Heat to reopen practice facility starting on Wednesday. What will player workouts look like?
Two months after the NBA season was suspended on March 11 and almost eight weeks since all NBA facilities were ordered closed to players and staff on March 20 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Miami Heat players will soon finally have an opportunity to shoot a basketball at AmericanAirlines Arena again.
The Heat is on track to begin allowing players Wednesday to participate in voluntary individual workouts at the team’s practice facility under strict NBA guidelines, according to a league source. The league began allowing for team practice facilities to open for workouts on Friday as allowed per local orders, with the Cleveland Cavaliers and Portland Trail Blazers opening its doors for player workouts that day and other teams, including the Heat, expected to do the same this week.
For now, the Heat plans to limit workouts at its AmericanAirlines Arena practice facility to three days per week.
The only three Heat players who have quarantined outside of South Florida — Jimmy Butler, Andre Iguodala and Solomon Hill — will not return to Miami for the start of arena workouts as they wait to learn more about the NBA’s plan for the remainder of the season. Butler, Iguodala and Hill are all in California.
The Heat issued antibody tests, which can indicate whether a person has had COVID-19, to players and staff, according to a league source. The tests were done last week and all results are expected in by Wednesday as part of the Mayo Clinic Coronavirus Antibody Study the NBA is supporting to better understand the prevalence of the novel coronavirus among players and staff and promote long-term efforts to develop a vaccine.
But the Heat has not yet received local clearance to administer COVID-19 tests to asymptomatic players and staff. The league has told teams that they may be permitted to test all players and staff entering facilities for workouts, with NBA approval, if local health officials say enough testing already exists for at-risk healthcare workers in that community and other conditions are met.
When the Heat begins using the AmericanAirlines Arena practice facility, it will have to follow strict guidelines the NBA has implemented for all teams in hopes of preventing the spread of COVID-19. Here are what workouts will look like in the downtown Miami arena ...
▪ No more than four players are permitted at a facility at any one time. Heat players have to schedule workouts to make sure they all don’t show up at once.
▪ Group activity remains prohibited, including practices or scrimmages. One player will be allowed at each basket, with the Heat’s practice court featuring seven baskets. Each player will also have their own sanitized ball.
▪ A total of six assistant coaches/player development personnel will be allowed to supervise workouts, but no more than four at one time. Head coaches are not allowed to be at workouts.
▪ The practice facility is the only arena space players will be permitted to work out at. Areas such as the weight room and locker room will remain closed, which means players will have to arrive for workouts with their own gear and have to leave the arena without showering.
▪ Players have to wear face masks inside the facility except when working out. And any staff members present have to wear face masks and gloves.
▪ Staff present, except for medical and athletic training personnel, must stay at least 12 feet away from players.
▪ Players and staff entering and exiting the arena will be subject to temperature checks.
▪ Players remain prohibited from using non-team facilities such as public health clubs, fitness centers, or gyms.
In addition, NBA teams have to designate a staff member as a “Facility Hygiene Officer” to oversee these new policies. For the Heat, longtime athletic trainer Jay Sabol will fill that role.
It’s unknown how many Heat players will consistently use the practice facility for workouts once it opens under such strict restrictions. But the thinking is, especially with a number of players living in condominiums, the opening of the arena practice facility will provide a controlled and monitored environment for basketball workouts to those who are interested.
The Heat officially received local clearance to open the AmericanAirlines Arena practice facility with an amendment to Miami-Dade County Emergency Order 15-20 that allows “the use of facilities owned or leased by a professional sports franchise, solely by employees of such franchise for training purposes.” This exception went into effect Friday at 6 p.m.
“I foresee no big issue in allowing them to go ahead and open [the practice facility],” Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez told the Miami Herald last week when asked about the Heat’s situation. “Certainly, we want to do that and make sure it’s safe. I think the steps they’re taking are very reasonable. I don’t foresee a problem.”
While practice facilities are starting to open around the NBA for individual workouts, it’s still unknown whether the remainder of the 2019-20 season will be played. In a teleconference with members of the National Basketball Players Association on Friday night, NBA commissioner Adam Silver reportedly told players that a decision on whether to complete the 2019-20 season could come as late as June.
This story was originally published May 12, 2020 at 9:09 AM.
