In House, Jr.’s press conference, he took the opportunity to address the issue in opening remarks apologizing for his actions.
“First of all, I’d like to start out by apologizing to my team, the organization, and the owner for the mishap that happened in the bubble,” House Jr. said. “I’m focused. It’s behind me. It’s in the past. New year, new season, learning, and looking forward to growing and expanding.”
House, Jr. also wanted to apologize to all the fans.
“I’d like to deeply apologize to the fans, also,” House Jr. said. “If you felt I let you down, sincerely apologies from me, Danuel House, Jr., to everyone.”
The NBA announced in September that it had concluded an investigation that found “House had a guest in his hotel room over multiple hours on September 8 who was not authorized to be on campus and…no evidence was found that other players or staff had contact with the guest or were involved in this incident.”
The NBA said House would be leaving the bubble and wouldn’t be playing with the Rockets in any of their additional games at the time. This was announced a day before the Rockets lost to the Lakers in Game 5 the Western Conference Semifinals.
House, Jr. didn’t play in the bubble after the series was tied at one-a-piece as he was also out for games three (per USA Today reportedly because of the investigation) and four (reportedly because of the investigation per Bleacher Report). In Game 2, his last game in the bubble, House, Jr. had 13 points and five boards off the bench.
House, Jr. in the press conference was asked if he feels he is starting over in proving himself as the media member mentioned House talked about wanting an opportunity to prove himself while in the bubble.
“No, I feel like I’m still carrying on, even though I wasn’t able to participate (in the bubble), as soon as I got home, I was in the gym and as soon as coaches…got home, I got back in the gym and did some conditioning and stuff like that to stay in shape,” House Jr. said.
House, Jr. is choosing to look at this as a learning moment and is moving on.
“So I feel like right now, it’s a momentum builder,” House Jr. said. “I mean you live and learn you take the bad and you just flip it to good and make the energy work for you.”
The Rockets forward averaged 10.5 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 1.1 steals during the 2019-20 season.
Here’s the full House Jr. virtual press conference:
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