Miami Heat closes facility for workouts after second player tests positive for COVID-19
With a second Miami Heat player recently testing positive for COVID-19, the team closed its AmericanAirlines Arena practice facility for individual workouts and will not practice again until it arrives at Walt Disney World next week, a league source confirmed to the Miami Herald on Friday afternoon.
The Miami Herald is not reporting the identity of the player because the player has not authorized the release of his name. The player is in quarantine and the expectation is he’ll still participate in the resumption of the 2019-20 season.
The Heat’s facility only remains open for mandatory COVID-19 tests for players and staff, which began June 23.
Since testing began last week, the Heat has had at least two players test positive for COVID-19: Forward Derrick Jones Jr. was the first. Even with this news, the Heat still expects to have all 17 players on its roster available when the 2019-20 season resumes at Walt Disney World on July 30.
One Heat staff member also tested positive for the virus last week, according to a league source.
The Heat, like many organizations, is not saying how many players or employees have tested positive. But the NBA announced Thursday that 25 of 351 players have tested positive for COVID-19 since mandatory testing began on June 23.
With teams currently allowed to conduct mandatory individual workouts at their facilities, according to the NBA’s 113-page health and safety manual sent to teams, players who test positive are required to self-isolate and may not discontinue isolation until they are without any symptoms, return at least two consecutive negative COVID-19 tests more than 24 hours apart and then receive medical clearance before undergoing a cardiac screening.
The Heat is less than a week away from its scheduled Wednesday bus trip to the Gran Destino Tower at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort, when it will enter the NBA’s quarantine bubble and begin team workouts shortly after. It’s unclear at this point if the players who have recently tested positive for COVID-19 will be cleared to join the team for that bus ride or if they’ll have to wait to make the trip on their own.
According to the NBA, travel to Disney will only be allowed for “individuals who (i) have not returned a positive PCR [COVID-19] test result since the commencement of the league-wide testing program, or previously returned a positive PCR test result, but have satisfied the criteria for discontinuation of isolation ... (ii) report no symptoms associated with COVID-19 on the day of travel; and (iii) do not live with a household member who has or recently had COVID-19 or symptoms.” For individuals who don’t meet this criteria, the team will arrange for travel to Disney when they are cleared and it is approved by the NBA.
Teams are able to sign substitute players from July 1 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.
Any player replaced on a team’s eligible roster would be ineligible to participate in the remainder of the 2019-20 season. But with all 17 players expected to be available for the resumption of the season, a substitute player is not expected to be necessary at this point.
Coach Erik Spoelstra said Wednesday that Jones has not returned to work out at the team facility yet, but Spoelstra said Jones is taking part in individual workouts over Zoom while quarantining.
The NBA season was suspended on March 11, on the night that Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19. His teammate, All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell, subsequently tested positive.
Among other NBA players who have reportedly tested positive for COVID-19: Brooklyn Nets forward Kevin Durant, center DeAndre Jordan and guard Spencer Dinwiddie, Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic, Indiana Pacers guard Malcolm Brogdon, Detroit Pistons forward Christian Wood, Boston Celtics guard Marcus Smart, and Sacramento Kings guard Buddy Hield, center Alex Len and forward Jabari Parker.
Every NBA player who is publicly known to have tested positive reportedly has made a full recovery.
The NBA’s restart plan calls for 22 teams to finish their seasons at a fanless quarantine-type environment just outside of Orlando at Disney. The season is set to resume on July 30 and end in October.
The Heat’s first “seeding game” is scheduled for Aug. 1 against the Denver Nuggets. Miami has already clinched a spot in the playoffs, which begin Aug. 17.
HERRO READY FOR RESTART
In a Friday Zoom call with reporters, Heat rookie Tyler Herro said he feels “100 percent again” entering the restart of the season. Herro missed 15 consecutive games because of right ankle soreness before playing in Miami’s final game prior to the league shutdown amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I definitely feel back to myself,” Herro said Friday. “... I feel 100 percent. It definitely helped me just so I had more time to recover and didn’t have to rush back. I definitely feel 100 percent again.”
Herro, 20, has averaged 12.9 points while shooting 41.4 percent from the field and 39.1 percent from three-point range, four rebounds and 1.9 assists in 47 games (six starts) in his first NBA season.
“I’m just really excited to get back out there. I’m finally healthy,” he said. “I missed 15 games. I’m ready to get out there. Whatever coach has me doing, I’m willing to do it.”
Herro added that he has watched film edits of players like Klay Thompson, Ray Allen, CJ McCollum, Steve Nash and Bradley Beal during the stoppage.
“Every player that I watch and the coaches have me watch,” Herro said, “I dissect something different from their game and try to add it to mine.”
▪ The Athletic reported Friday that Indiana Pacers star guard Victor Oladipo has opted out of the remainder of the season. Oladipo is coming off a year-long recovery after suffering a ruptured quad tendon in his right knee in January 2019 and returning January 2020.
Two of the Heat’s eight “seeding games” come against the Pacers. And the potential for a first-round playoff series between Miami and Indiana is real, with the fourth-seeded Heat sitting two games ahead of the fifth-seeded Pacers.
This story was originally published July 3, 2020 at 3:38 PM.
