The Los Angeles Clippers are 1-1 to start the seeding round in the NBA Bubble, having narrowly lost the the Lakers in the opener and then bouncing back to trounce the Pelicans in their second game. On Tuesday, they will take on the incredibly hot Phoenix Suns, as they look to maintain their advantage over the Nuggets (also 1-1) for the 2-seed in the West.
Some good news arrived on Tuesday morning for a Clippers team that has had three key contributors miss time in the bubble due to family emergencies, as Lou Williams will make his seeding round debut after finally clearing his 10-day quarantine after his excursion to Magic City for wings while in Atlanta for an excused absence, as his agent informed Shams Charania of The Athletic.
Clippers guard Lou Williams has cleared his 10-day quarantine and will make his NBA restart debut today against the Suns, his agent Wallace Prather tells @TheAthleticNBA @Stadium.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) August 4, 2020
Williams’ visit to the Atlanta establishment has been the topic of plenty of conversation, but after 10 days in his Orlando hotel room, he’s back in the lineup and has cleared all of the necessary tests with negative results to be able to play in Tuesday’s game. In their opener against the Lakers, it was almost jarring to see the struggles of the Clippers bench, which is among the best offensive bench units in the league, without Williams and Montrezl Harrell, who remains away after the death of his grandmother.
Getting Williams back will give L.A. another on-ball creator and shot-maker, something that will be a welcome sight for Paul George and Kawhi Leonard who have carried the load in that area through two games. One would expect Williams’ minutes to be relatively limited given its his first game back, but it’ll be good for the Clippers to get him back on the court and into rhythm with the team once again.