The Clippers were without two members of their team during Sunday’s preseason game against the Lakers. Assistant coach Chauncey Billups and backup guard Reggie Jackson were both absent from the team bench, after being present Friday, because of a term that will become very familiar to NBA fans this season: an “excused absence”.
As a league source told the L.A. Times, “an excused absence applies to scenarios that include either a positive or inconclusive result or because of reasons related to contact tracing.” Billups and Jackson were the first such absences of the year, but as the league continues play during the pandemic, it’s hard to believe they’ll be the last.