Houston Rockets guard Kevin Porter Jr. will miss time because of a violation of the NBA’s health and safety protocols stemming from visiting a Miami strip club with teammate Sterling Brown that resulted in Brown being assaulted, sources told ESPN.
Porter likely will be out until at least Sunday, Rockets coach Stephen Silas said prior to Wednesday’s game against the Utah Jazz. The NBA’s health and safety protocols limit where players can go while on the road.
Miami-Dade police said Brown had “multiple lacerations throughout his body” when they arrived at the strip club at 6:53 a.m. Monday in response to a fight. Brown, who has been sidelined by a knee injury, was transported to a local hospital.
The Rockets announced before Monday’s loss to the Miami Heat that Brown suffered facial lacerations from an assault by assailants whom he “had no prior knowledge of or interaction with” and would make a full recovery.
Brown is back in Houston recovering.
“He was assaulted and he has bumps and bruises and stuff like that,” Silas said, “so stuff like that usually gets a little bit worse … before it gets better.”
Silas said that he spoke to Brown on Tuesday and reached out Wednesday but had not gotten in touch with him then. He said Brown is seeing doctors and working with the team’s training staff as he recovers.
“The main thing for me is that he knows that we are 100 percent behind him and have his back and want him to get healthy soon, get back and get back with his teammates and all of those things,” Silas said.
The Rockets acquired Porter, 20, in a January trade after the Cleveland Cavaliers decided they would trade or waive the 2019 first-round pick because of off-court issues. Houston gave up a top-55 protected second-round pick in the deal.
Porter’s performance has been one of the bright spots in a rebuilding season for the Rockets, who sent him to the G League bubble before he made his Houston debut. He has averaged 15.5 points and 6.2 assists in 21 games for the Rockets.
Silas said that he talks to his team often about the league’s health and safety protocols and the importance of following them.
“Today we talked about a bunch of stuff that wasn’t just the Sterling stuff,” he said. “And we definitely talked about that as a group … over the last couple of days … so they absolutely know where I stand when it comes to that sort of thing. And it’s not just a one-time conversation that we have with this group. That’s consistent communication with the group.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
