The Houston Rockets will reportedly be without guard Austin Rivers for their first scrimmage of the NBA season restart. Rivers left the team Friday to tend to an urgent family matter, per Shams Charania of The Athletic, but is expected to return to the campus sometime this weekend.
The Rockets take on the Toronto Raptors (7:30 p.m. ET, NBA TV) in the first scrimmage game for both teams.
Rockets' Austin Rivers expects to return to the Orlando bubble sometime this weekend, sources said. https://t.co/eMpEYuha8a
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) July 24, 2020
Rivers is a key reserve for the Rockets, averaging 8.5 points, 2.4 rebounds and 1.6 assists in 23.4 minutes per game.
Houston has seen several of its guards come back into the NBA campus recently. All-Star guard Russell Westbrook cleared coronavirus protocol and returned to practice after he was away from the team because of a positive Covid-19 test.
Former Kia MVP winner James Harden arrived and started practicing with the team on July 14, five days after the rest of the team arrived. The Rockets did not disclose the reason for Harden’s absence.
