Jimmy Butler ready to make return, but Heat still without three starters vs. Magic
Even with Jimmy Butler back from injury on Sunday against the Orlando Magic, the Miami Heat will still be without three starters.
In addition to Heat starting center Bam Adebayo remaining out until mid-January after thumb surgery, Heat starting forward P.J. Tucker and guard Kyle Lowry are unavailable Sunday.
“This is the reality of this association right now,” coach Erik Spoelstra said before the Heat’s game against the Magic of continuing to play short-handed. ”With us, we’ve had to deal with it probably a little bit more extensively in the last few weeks. But it’s happening everywhere. So we just have to focus on this afternoon. One game. I think you can get a little bit overwhelmed if you’re just trying to figure everything out and trying to map out the next two months. We don’t have to do that. All we have to do is focus on today and guys have gained some confidence. I feel good about how we’re playing.”
Tucker has been ruled out for the third straight game because of lower left leg nerve inflammation and Lowry entered the NBA’s health and safety protocols on Saturday. The good news for the Heat is that Butler, who’s averaging team-highs in points and steals, is ready to return after missing the past eight games and 12 of the past 13 games with a tail bone contusion.
It also seems that Tucker is nearing a return since he was upgraded to questionable for Sunday’s contest before he was eventually ruled out, but Lowry could be out for more than a week. The Heat is also without Adebayo, Dewayne Dedmon (left knee sprain), Markieff Morris (whiplash) and Victor Oladipo (right knee injury recovery) against the Magic.
With contact tracing no longer keeping vaccinated players out, Lowry’s entrance means he tested positive for COVID-19. Every Heat player has been vaccinated and the belief is that most of the roster has received a booster shot.
The current NBA policy requires players — whether they’re fully vaccinated or not — to either quarantine for 10 days or return consecutive negative PCR tests at least 24 hours apart while not having any symptoms in order to return after testing positive for COVID-19.
But, amid an outbreak around the league, the NBA and National Basketball Players Association are reportedly in discussions to shorten the quarantine period for players who test positive for COVID-19 from 10 days to six days.
If Lowry is forced to miss 10 or more days, he’ll be unavailable for at least six games. That means Lowry won’t be with the team for the start of its upcoming seven-game trip that begins Wednesday against the San Antonio Spurs.
“This is the reality of the world the last year-and-a-half plus and in this association,” Spoelstra said when asked about the pandemic’s impact. “We’ve been dealing with this last year and this year and you just have to adapt, stay the course as much as possible, focus on your reality, focus on solutions and not get overwhelmed with things that you can’t control. I think it’s also important for everybody to just have a little bit of grace with each other. These are tough things. Whenever you get a piece of information, everybody’s instinct is to blame somebody. It’s a crazy virus. It really is. It just brings out the worst in people.”
Sunday marks the third game that Lowry, 35, has missed this season. He also missed the Heat’s Oct. 23 loss to the Indiana Pacers with a sprained left ankle and was held out of a Nov. 17 win over the New Orleans Pelicans for rest purposes.
Lowry, who signed a three-year, $85 million contract with the Heat this past summer, has averaged 13.9 points, 4.6 rebounds, 8.2 assists and one steal in 31 games this season.
The Heat is allowed to sign a player to a 10-day contract as a COVID-19 replacement for Lowry without the move affecting the team’s salary cap or luxury tax situation, according to recently modified rules agreed upon by the league and the Players Association.
Forward Zylan Cheatham was signed by the Heat on Wednesday to a 10-day deal as a COVID-19 replacement for Caleb Martin, but Martin is out of protocols and will make his return on Sunday. Cheatham has remained on the roster, though, as a COVID-19 replacement for Lowry.
The Heat does have the ability to waive Cheatham and bring in another replacement player for Lowry, but has not opted to do that yet. Cheatham’s 10-day contract expires after Miami’s road game against the Houston Rockets on Dec. 31.
The Magic is also very short-handed on Sunday with six players currently in health and safety protocols — Mo Bamba, Ignas Brazdeikis, BJ Johnson, Mychal Mulder, Chuma Okeke and Terrence Ross. Orlando is also without Moritz Wagner because he’s reconditioning after missing time due to protocols, and Michael Carter-Williams, Markelle Fultz, Jonathan Isaac, E’Twaun Moore, Cole Anthony and Jalen Suggs because of injuries.
In total, the Magic ruled out 13 players for Sunday’s game in Miami.
THIS AND THAT
▪ When a Friday MRI revealed a Grade 1-Plus MCL sprain in Dedmon’s left knee, Spoelstra was relieved. Dedmon is expected to miss one to two weeks after injuring his knee in Thursday’s win over the Detroit Pistons.
“When you see one of your players like that on the floor, it’s not hard for your mind to drift,” Spoelstra said of Dedmon. “I know he probably didn’t sleep well that night. When we all got the news the next day, it was like OK we can all enjoy our Christmas.”
▪ Of his Christmas, Spoelstra said: “As a dad, you’re not even thinking about the gifts that you get. It was two hours of unwrapping gifts for our two boys and seeing the joy on their faces. But also like acknowledging how many gifts they were getting from all the relatives and everything. It was like, alright we got to control this a little bit. It was a lot of clean up going on at our household after lunch yesterday. But a beautiful two days. You don’t get those kind of breaks very often in this league, having two days off like that to be able to spend with your family. I treasure that.”
This story was originally published December 26, 2021 at 2:42 PM.
