Source: Mike Ehrmann / Getty
There has been a potential cheating scandal during the NBA‘s playoffs in its so-called “Bubble,” but it has nothing to do with the game of basketball. Instead, Danuel House, one of the players for the Houston Rockets, has been kicked out of the Bubble at Walt Disney World in Florida near Orlando because of suspicions that he had inappropriate contact with an unidentified woman in his hotel room.
House is married, but his wife and children were not in the Bubble with him.
Normally, that wouldn’t be that big of a deal as we’ve all heard the rumors of how professional sports stars get down when they’re on the road. But in this case, the NBA created the Bubble to specifically keep it coronavirus-free in order to ensure and maintain a safe and healthy playing environment for its games, players, coaches and respective staffs. Oh, and did we mention it is the playoffs and House is an important player for the Rockets, which are trying to beat a LeBron James-led Los Angeles Lakers team to advance t the Western Conference Finals?
The NBA’s official statement went into excruciating detail in its announcement of House’s departure from the Bubble.
Two of House’s teammates who were also implicated but got to remain in the Bubble.
Yahoo Sports reported that “House maintains his innocence,” although it’s unclear if he’s saying he didn’t have a woman in his hotel room or if he didn’t cheat on his wife.
According to the Athletic, citing “sources,” the unidentified woman who may or may not have been a COVID-19 testing official “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”
Meanwhile, his wife’s Instagram has been made private and was “scrubbed” of photos of House, according to alleged screenshots from her account.
Unverified reports on Twitter claimed to show she changed her Instagram stories to show four words: “reap what you sow.”
It was still unclear who the woman was, aside from reportedly being a COVID-19 testing official.
There were wisecracks galore on social media about what the woman’s next move might be, like putting House on blast during a high profile interview. The “No Jumper” podcast, for instance, seems to be fairly popular with people who like to share details of sexual exploits with celebrities and sports stars.
House is averaging 11.4 points and shooting 36 percent from 3-point range in nine playoff games in the NBA’s Disney bubble. He was forced to miss Thursday night’s game — a loss — for “personal reasons” as the NBA investigated him.
There were jokes on social media, like this one pretending LeBron James told on House so his Lakers could get a leg-up on the Rockets and advance to the Western Conference Finals.
https://twitter.com/Hou5ton4L/status/1303812268728123392?s=20
There were also the rumblings of House being a victim of a larger, unproven NBA conspiracy theory to help get LeBron closer to another NBA title.
https://twitter.com/BullsGotNext/status/1303900084828995585?s=20
In the end, people seemed to be having a good laugh at House’s expense — everybody but Rockets fans, who are seeing their chances of ending their season on a god note fade away. The Rockets could be eliminated Saturday night if they don’t win Game 5 against the Lakers.
It was in the above context that social media users chimed in on the matter through a series of expressive GIFs. Scroll down to see how folks are really feeling about the unfortunate matter.
