Report: Woman at Rockets’ hotel denies contact with Danuel House

Per The Athletic, there appears to be no video connecting House and the woman, and she denies having been in contact with him.

The woman at the center of the controversy involving Danuel House Jr. denies having been in contact with him on Monday night, according to a new report by The Athletic‘s Shams Charania and Sam Amick.

In the second-round series between the Houston Rockets and Los Angeles Lakers, House missed Game 3 and is currently listed as out for Thursday’s Game 4 due to “personal reasons.” On Wednesday night, those reasons began coming to light, with the NBA probing House for a potential violation of the league’s “bubble” protocols at Disney World.

At Wednesday’s practice, head coach Mike D’Antoni said the Rockets “haven’t heard yet” whether House would be available for Game 4, which seemed to signal that a decision would be coming from the NBA, rather than the team. On Thursday, information leaked that the dispute involves an unauthorized female who entered Houston’s hotel.

Per multiple reports, House has denied any wrongdoing, yet he remains in the NBA’s crosshairs. The Athletic‘s story offers further details:

She exited the hotel in the early hours of Tuesday morning, and the league cited early data points that implicated two members of the Rockets, House and Tyson Chandler, sources said. When the woman was questioned by NBA security, she did not implicate House’s name and it is uncertain whether she remains on campus, sources said. She claimed to have contact with Chandler and another player, not named House, according to sources.

According to sources, the Rockets’ entire team had to enter a quarantine period on Tuesday due to the potential exposure. Those sources said there appears to be no video connecting House and the woman; only the flagging of her entering and leaving the hotel, and the possibility of a door opening and closing to match those timelines. The NBA has informed involved parties that it has circumstantial evidence implicating House.

 

Per The Athletic, the investigation cleared Chandler on Wednesday and is now focused on House. However, it is unclear what the “circumstantial evidence” is, and it is also not apparent what other player was named. Both the female (a COVID-19 testing professional, per Yahoo’s Chris Haynes) and House have denied his role. While Chandler missed Game 3 due to this inquiry, he is not on the injury report for Game 4.

While testing officials are allowed inside the bubble, they go in and out each day and (unlike players) do not live there. Thus, as with maintenance staff, the league has protocols in place to minimize the potential exposure of those workers to NBA personnel living at the bubble.

For the Rockets, it’s understandably a frustrating situation, since all parties involved have denied his involvement, and there also does not appear to be any video evidence, according to Charania. It is not clear whether team officials are aware of what the “circumstantial evidence” is.

Per Haynes, a decision on House’s playing status is expected to come on Thursday. ESPN reported on Wednesday that the league was weighing the imposition of a potential 10-day quarantine period on House, which would likely make him unavailable for the rest of the series.

Regardless of the league’s final decision, the storyline doesn’t appear likely to go away any time soon. Even if House is cleared, the Rockets as an organization would likely be frustrated that he was held out of Game 3 before the NBA’s investigation had determined whether he was guilty.

If somehow House was made available for Thursday’s Game 4, the Rockets could certainly use his help. In a 10-point loss in Game 3, only one Houston reserve (Jeff Green) scored, and the Los Angeles bench outscored those on the Rockets by a decisive 42-16 margin.

In nine playoff games, the 6-foot-6 House has averaged 11.4 points (35.8% on 3-pointers) and 5.8 rebounds in 31.0 minutes, and he’s among the most athletic and versatile options for Houston’s switch-heavy defense. In Sunday’s Game 2, the 27-year-old had 13 points and five rebounds off the bench, and he hit 3-of-7 from 3-point range (42.9%).

Game 4 between the Rockets and Lakers tips off at 6:00 p.m. Central on Thursday, with a national TV broadcast on TNT. Houston now trails the West semifinal series by a 2-1 margin, which makes Game 4 very important to their chances. Historically, only 12 teams in NBA playoff history have overcome a 3-1 deficit to win a best-of-seven series.

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