Los Angeles Clippers guard Lou Williams has admitted to being at an Atlanta strip club last week, departing from the NBA’s much-publicized coronavirus “bubble.”
On Sunday, the NBA placed Williams in a 10-day quarantine after an excused absence from the Orlando, Florida, campus.
In a now-deleted Instagram post, rapper Jack Harlow photographed Williams at the Magic City strip club. Harlow later said the image was an old photograph of Williams.
ESPN is reporting Williams, 33, has been interviewed by NBA security about his whereabouts while he was away from campus, and he has admitted he was at the club for a short time Thursday, but there were no entertainers present while he was there.
Williams has told the league he attended a viewing for Paul G. Williams, the father of a family friend, which ended about 6 p.m. Thursday, then went to Magic City for dinner.
On Friday, Lou Williams wrote in a tweet, “Ask any of my teammates what’s my favorite restaurant in Atlanta is. Ain’t nobody partying. Chill out lol. #Maskon #inandout.”
As the NBA’s investigation and subsequent media coverage has intensified, Williams has continued to respond on social media.
Williams is from metro Atlanta, and the basketball court at South Gwinnett High School is named in his honor. He briefly played for the Atlanta Hawks.
In another sports-related coronavirus development, two Major League Baseball games scheduled for Monday night were postponed after more than a dozen Miami Marlins players and staff members tested positive for the coronavirus in an outbreak that stranded the team in Philadelphia.
The Marlins’ home opener against Baltimore was called off, as was the New York Yankees’ game at Philadelphia. The Yankees would have been in the same clubhouse the Marlins used last weekend.
»COMPLETE COVERAGE: CORONAVIRUS
Nine Marlins players and five staff members received positive results in tests conducted Friday, a person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity because the results hadn’t been publicly disclosed.
The Yankees are staying in Philadelphia for now and have their own clubhouse staff with the team there, the person said. The Marlins postponed their flight home Sunday night after their series finale against the Phillies.
MLB announced the postponement of both games about eight hours before the scheduled first pitch and said additional COVID-19 testing was being conducted. That included Phillies players being tested Monday.
“The members of the Marlins’ traveling party are self-quarantining in place while awaiting the outcome of those results,” MLB said in a statement.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
