Bam Adebayo, Kendrick Nunn join Heat in NBA bubble for restart
The Miami Heat is whole again.
Center Bam Adebayo and guard Kendrick Nunn, who did not travel with the Heat to Walt Disney World on July 8, joined the team inside the NBA bubble on Tuesday to take the next step in their preparation for the resumption of the season.
The two Heat starters were away for reasons that the team and players declined to disclose, citing privacy reasons.
With the arrival of Adebayo and Nunn, Miami now has all 17 of its players on the NBA campus.
But the 22-year-old Adebayo and 24-year-old Nunn won’t be able to join their teammates on the court just yet.
After entering the Disney bubble, Adebayo and Nunn must go through the same required quarantine period in their hotel room that their Heat teammates experienced when they arrived at the league’s Central Florida campus earlier this month.
That means returning two negative COVID-19 tests at least 24 hours apart upon arrival before beginning team activities — a quarantine that’s expected to last approximately 36 to 48 hours.
Based on this timetable, Adebayo and Nunn can clear quarantine as soon as Thursday to exit their hotel rooms and begin practicing with their Heat teammates.
With the Heat set to begin its three-game scrimmage schedule Wednesday against the Sacramento Kings, Adebayo and Nunn will still be in the middle of their quarantine when that game tips off. Miami’s other two scrimmages come on Saturday against the Utah Jazz and July 28 against the Memphis Grizzlies.
“They’re two great players, two great teammates, so there’s not going to be a problem with fitting them back in,” Heat rookie Tyler Herro said last week of Adebayo and Nunn. “They will get right back into the swing of things. They’ve also been working when they were 100 percent healthy. So we’re excited to get them back here. We really want to get a full team out here and just be able to attack this with 100 percent.”
Before the NBA suspended play on March 11 amid the pandemic, Adebayo was in the middle of a breakout season. In his third NBA season and his first as a full-time starter, Adebayo is averaging career highs in points (16.2), rebounds (10.5), assists (5.1), steals (1.2), blocks (1.3) and minutes (34.4) on his way to earning his first All-Star Game appearance.
Nunn has had a standout rookie season, averaging 15.6 points on 44.8 percent shooting, 2.7 rebounds and 3.4 assists in 62 games (all starts). Nunn, who went undrafted in 2018, has been named the Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month three times this season.
“There will be an adjustment period, that’s natural,” forward Duncan Robinson said of working Adebayo and Nunn back into the rotation. “But I know those guys have been doing their due diligence and they’ve been staying in shape, as well. So we’re itching and excited to get them back, as I know they are to get here. Like anything, it will take a little bit of an adjustment period, but that’s what practices are for, that’s what walk-throughs are for, and scrimmages, us against each other, and going live, and just get re-acclimated with that.”
The Heat has had three players test positive for COVID-19 since mandatory testing began on June 23, with 15 of the team’s 17 players making the bus ride to Disney on July 8. Forward Derrick Jones Jr., who allowed for the release of his name following his positive test, was cleared in time to travel with the team.
The Miami Herald has not reported the names of the two players who most recently tested positive because they have not authorized their names to be released. But guard Goran Dragic mentioned recently that Adebayo and Nunn were away from the team, without specifying why.
Those who tested positive for COVID-19 need to satisfy the league’s criteria for discontinuation of isolation, which is being symptom-free, returning at least two consecutive negative COVID-19 tests more than 24 hours apart and then receiving medical clearance before traveling to Disney.
The season is set to resume July 30 and end in October at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex. Miami has less than two weeks to prepare for the start of its eight-game seeding schedule, which begins Aug. 1 against the Denver Nuggets (1 p.m., ESPN, Fox Sports Sun).
The Heat (41-24) has already clinched a spot in the playoffs, which begin Aug. 17.
This story was originally published July 21, 2020 at 7:46 PM.
