Houston Rockets forward Danuel House Jr will miss the rest of the play-offs after breaching NBA bubble regulations by having a guest in his hotel room.
Rockets are 3-1 down against the Los Angeles Lakers in the best-of-seven Western Conference finals.
An NBA statement said 27-year-old House “had a guest in his hotel room over multiple hours on 8 September”.
The play-offs are being held in a bubble at Disney World, Florida, to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
The statement added that the guest “was not authorised to be on campus” and that “no evidence was found that other players or staff had contact with the guest or were involved in this incident”.
House – who did not feature in Houston’s last two games – will now leave the bubble, with game five against the Lakers on Saturday.
He has averaged 11.4 points and 5.8 rebounds in nine games during post-season.
“It’s never a good time, like an injury, but the whole Covid thing is different, so you just deal with it,” Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni told USA Today.
