Houston Rockets guard Kevin Porter Jr. will miss time due to a violation of the NBA’s health and safety protocols following a visit to a strip club in Miami with teammate Sterling Brown, which led to Brown being assaulted is, sources told ESPN.
Porter will likely be out until at least Sunday, Rockets coach Stephen Silas said before the game against the Utah Jazz on Wednesday. The NBA’s health and safety protocols limit where players can go.
According to Miami-Dade police, Brown had a number of tear wounds in his body when they arrived at the strip club at 6:53 a.m. Monday in response to a fight. Brown, who was sidelined due to a knee injury, was transported to a local hospital.
The Rockets announced before Monday’s loss to the Miami Heat that Brown had a facial concussion as a result of an assault by assailants with whom he “had no knowledge or interaction” and would fully recover.
Brown is recovering in Houston.
“He was assaulted and he had bumps and bruises and stuff like that,” Silas said, “so things like that usually get a little worse … before it gets better.”
Silas said he spoke to Brown on Tuesday and released on Wednesday, but that he did not contact him at the time. He said Brown goes to doctors and works with the team’s training staff while he recovers.
“The most important thing for me is that he knows that we are 100% behind him and that he has his back and wants him to get well soon, come back and be with his teammates and all that,” said Silas. .
The Rockets acquired Porter, 20, in a January deal after the Cleveland Cavaliers decided to swap or forfeit the first round of 2019 due to out-of-court issues. Houston gave up a top-55 protected second-round pick in the deal.
Porter’s performance was one of the highlights in a rebuilding season for the Rockets, which sent him to the G League bubble before making his Houston debut. He averaged 15.5 points and 6.2 assists in 21 games for the Rockets.
Silas said he regularly talks to his team about the league’s health and safety protocols and the importance of following them.
“Today we talked about a lot of things that were not just the Sterling stuff,” he said. ‘And we’ve definitely been talking about it as a group … for the past few days … so they absolutely know where I stand when it comes to that kind of thing. And it’s not just a one – time conversation we have with this group. It is a constant communication with the group. ‘
The Associated Press contributed to this report.