Next phase in NBA restart plan set to begin July 1. What does it mean for the Heat?
As the calendar turns to a new month Wednesday, the NBA continues to push forward with its plan to restart the season on July 30 at Disney’s ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex.
While group workouts remain prohibited, NBA teams will be allowed to take the next step when it comes to individual workouts. Starting Wednesday, individual workouts can be made mandatory by teams and up to eight players will be allowed in the facility at any one time, according to the NBA’s 113-page health and safety manual sent to teams.
For the Miami Heat, that means it can hold mandatory workouts at its AmericanAirlines Arena practice facility this week for the first time since the season was suspended on March 11 amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Until this point, individual workouts could only be labeled as voluntary, and no more than four players were permitted at the facility at any one time.
The Heat had stopped player workouts in the arena for a few days after forward Derrick Jones Jr. tested positive for COVID-19 last week, but those workouts resumed Monday.
Individual workouts will still be limited to one player per basket to promote social distancing and protect against the potential spread of COVID-19. Miami began allowing players to participate in voluntary individual workouts at the team facility on May 13.
Head coaches across the league, including Erik Spoelstra, were allowed to begin supervising and participating in workouts last week alongside assistant coaches and/or player development personnel.
Group sessions like team practices, scrimmages and pickup games are not allowed until teams arrive at Disney for the start of training camp during the second week of July.
In addition, Wednesday is the final day for teams to register all players and staff who will be traveling into the Disney bubble.
Each team can initially bring up to 35 people into the bubble as part of the basketball operations group, and that includes up to 17 players (including two two-way contract players). The traveling party must also include at least one athletic trainer, one strength and conditioning coach, one equipment manager, one security staff member and one senior basketball executive.
The actual number of team personnel in the bubble will be up to 37 per franchise, with the NBA also allowing for one member of the team’s media relations staff and one member of the team’s social media staff. It’s still unclear if Heat president Pat Riley, 75, will be part of the team’s travel party for the restart.
The Heat’s roster is at the league maximum of 17 players, including two-way contract players Kyle Alexander and Gabe Vincent. All are expected to travel with the Heat on its July 8 bus ride to the Gran Destino Tower at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort — when it will enter the NBA’s quarantine bubble and begin training camp a few days later — leaving 18 open spots as part of the 35-person limit for the Heat’s basketball operations traveling party.
The Heat did not release a player by Sunday’s 5 p.m. waiver deadline, meaning the only way Miami can make an addition is if one of its current players tests positive for COVID-19 or opts out of the restart.
The NBA is allowing players to opt out of the bubble plan and they will not be penalized for staying home, but those players will not be paid for missed games unless they are ruled to be an excused or protected players because they are in risk categories for COVID-19 or test positive for the virus.
Teams are able to sign substitute players from Wednesday until Aug. 14 to replace a player who notifies his team that he has elected to sit out the resumption of the season, is an excused or protected player because he’s considered high risk or tests positive for COVID-19. Even with the Heat at the league maximum of 17 players on its roster, it will be able to exceed that total to add a substitute player.
Those who have played in the NBA or G League this season and were not under contract this season with a professional team outside of the United States are eligible to be signed. Among the players still available who fit this criteria are guard Jamal Crawford and wing Iman Shumpert.
Teams also can replace a player who tests positive for COVID-19 from the last day of “seeding games” until the final game of the 2019-20 season. However, the pool of available players is limited to those with zero to three years of service in the NBA.
Any player replaced on a team’s eligible roster would be ineligible to participate in the remainder of the 2019-20 season.
Wednesday is considered a soft deadline for players to notify teams of their intention to sit out the restart because it’s the day teams must submit to the league a list of players who will travel into the bubble. But in reality, players can decide to opt out of the restart whenever they want — even after they arrive at Disney.
None of the Heat’s 17 players have informed the team they intend to skip the restart yet. Although Jones tested positive for COVID-19 last week, he still intends to participate in the resumption of the season, according to a league source.
Jones’ positive test was conducted June 23, when mandatory COVID-19 testing for NBA players and staff began to be issued. He remains asymptomatic and in self-isolation until he meets the league’s health requirements to return to the court.
Mandatory COVID-19 testing for NBA players and staff continues to be issued “every other day through the day of the team’s travel to the campus (and both of the two days prior to the travel day).” Temperature and symptom checks are done daily.
The NBA’s restart plan calls for 22 teams to finish their seasons at a fanless quarantine-type environment in Lake Buena Vista at Disney’s ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex. The season is set to resume on July 30 with each team playing eight “seeding games,” as the Heat is scheduled to open the restart against the Denver Nuggets on Aug. 1.
The postseason will begin on Aug. 17 and end in October. The Heat has already clinched a playoff spot.
This story was originally published June 30, 2020 at 10:49 AM.
