Danuel House Jr. getting kicked out of the NBA bubble for allegedly having an unauthorized female in his hotel room was one of the more surreal stories to come out of this basketball season.
It somehow combined the absurdity of risking it all despite having the eyes of the world on you with the unfortunate reality that players are forced to live with a result of COVID-19.
Recently, Kevin Durant appeared on the Joe Budden Podcast and gave his thoughts on the hows and whys of sneaking women into the bubble.
“If you’ve been in a bubble away from some action for 3 months? I mean, you can’t blame him, dog,” he said.
“And I heard it was no females at all outside of [COVID testers.] The maids were all men, there was nothing but men around,” he continued.
“After a couple of months, you’re down 3-1? Nah, He said, ‘I don’t give a f*** no more,’ man.â
KD on the JBP was comedy.
đđđđ pic.twitter.com/ZkbRV4nJMJ
â warriorsworld (@warriorsworld) September 19, 2020
Budden also quizzed Durant on whether the new generation of NBA stars was more concerned with video games then women.
“Nah bro,â he replied.
âThey still at the end of the day, they want some action, too⌠But they all into Fortnite as well.”
An interesting decision. https://t.co/SFGW2hL91B
â Game 7 (@game7__) September 22, 2020
While the House situation is obviously something everyone is laughing about now, it is worth remembering that his wife wasnât laughing about it after it initially went down.
The Houston Rockets probably didnât find it particularly funny either, as they really could have used him off the bench against the Los Angeles Lakers.
Vanessa Bryant responds. https://t.co/Cs7U63768P
â Game 7 (@game7__) September 22, 2020
Houston won the first game of their second round series against LA, only to then go out and lose the next four in a row.
At least part of that can no doubt be attributed to what happened with House. Both in terms of on the court production that they were suddenly lacking and the off the court distraction it caused.
People forget, but House actually played in the first two outings versus LA before ultimately sitting out the remaining three games.
In Game 2, he was one of the Rockets’ lone bright spots — finishing with with 13 points on 5-for-10 shooting and five rebounds. He was a big reason why Houston was able to come back from 21-down in the first half to only lose by a handful of points late.
“I think he’s blossoming into one of the better players in the league,” then Rockets head coach Mike D’Antoni said afterward.
“He’s playing with a lot of energy, athletically, making great decisions on defense and offense. He’s come a long ways, and who knows — I still think he’ll improve and get better. There’s no reason why he’s not one of the better players in the league.”
Of course, that proved to be the last we would see of House in 2020.
Would the Rockets have defeated LA with House on the roster? Probably not. Would it have been far more competitive than it otherwise was? No question about it.
Related: Kevin Durant Gets Very Honest About Giannis Antetokounmpo Winning MVP
A graduate from the University of Texas, Anthony Amador has been credentialed to cover the Houston Texans, Dallas Cowboys, San Antonio Spurs, Dallas Mavericks and high school games all over the Lone Star State. Currently, his primary beats are the NBA, MLB, NFL and UFC.
