Heat’s Tyler Herro out vs. Rockets because of health and safety protocols
Miami Heat guard Tyler Herro missed Thursday night’s game against the Houston Rockets because of the NBA’s health and safety protocols.
The Heat announced that Herro would be unavailable just minutes before tip-off. He traveled with the team to Houston for Thursday’s contest.
The fact that Herro was ruled out because of the league’s health and safety protocols does not suggest that he tested positive for COVID-19, but only means the reason is related to the virus.
Players who are determined to be close contacts to a positive COVID-19 case are expected to usually be sidelined for seven days, and those who test positive for the virus likely have to miss at least about two weeks.
Herro previously tested positive for COVID-19 last year prior to the resumption of the 2019-20 season in the Walt Disney World quarantine bubble.
Herro has averaged 17 points on 45.1 percent shooting from the field and 34.7 percent shooting on threes, 6.1 rebounds and 3.9 assists in 17 games (14 starts) this season. He played his last three games in a reserve role.
Herro, 21, recently went through a COVID-19 scare when his status was in question for a Feb. 1 game against the Charlotte Hornets because of health and safety protocols. A person Herro lives with tested positive for COVID-19, but he was not forced to miss any time because it turned out to be a false positive.
The Heat has already been one of the teams most impacted by the NBA’s health and safety protocols, playing two games (Jan. 12 and Jan. 14 losses to the Philadelphia 76ers) with the NBA minimum of eight available players because of COVID-19 issues.
Already this season, health and safety protocols forced Jimmy Butler to miss 10 straight games; Avery Bradley to miss eight straight games, and Bam Adebayo, Goran Dragic, Moe Harkless, Udonis Haslem, Kendrick Nunn and KZ Okpala to miss two straight games. Bradley disclosed that he tested positive for COVID-19 in January.
In addition, the Heat’s Jan. 10 matchup against the Boston Celtics at TD Garden was postponed because of the NBA’s health and safety protocols. Miami did not have the NBA minimum of eight available players to proceed with the game due to an ongoing contact tracing investigation.
