The first week of the NBA bubble has gone, at least so far as we know, fairly smoothly. Teams are practicing, players are fishing and golfing and gaming, and for the most part it appears that everyone is following the rules so far — admittedly, with a very long way to go.
However, on Monday, we got word that our first quarantine break had happened, albeit not purposefully, as a quartet of ESPN reporters broke the bad news that Rockets forward Bruno Caboclo had “inadvertently” broken quarantine and was now going to have to isolate in his hotel room for eight full days.
Rockets forward Bruno Caboclo inadvertently broke quarantine and must quarantine in his room for another eight days before resuming team activities, sources told @ZachLowe_NBA, @malika_andrews, @TimBontemps and me.
— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) July 13, 2020
Caboclo left his room during the initial quarantine period, a source said. He was unaware that he was not allowed to do so despite the league informing all players and staff of the protocol. “He should’ve known,” the source said. “It was no secret.”
— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) July 13, 2020
It’s not a great start for Caboclo, as the rules of the initial quarantine period have been pretty clear throughout this process. Hopefully this will remain just an honest mistake and not have any greater ramifications on Caboclo, the Rockets, or the NBA bubble as a whole. It also serves as a pretty solid deterrent for anyone that has been considering breaking contain, as they’ve all already spent two days quarantined in a room and knowing at least eight more days of that would be waiting for them (plus possible missed game checks) is a pretty strong reason to stay in line.
