Heat’s Haslem and Strus join Lowry in NBA’s COVID-19 protocols, and broadcaster also out
The Miami Heat’s COVID-19 situation continues to evolve.
After starting guard Kyle Lowry entered the league’s COVID-19 protocols on Saturday, the Heat announced Tuesday that Udonis Haslem and Max Strus also entered protocols. Haslem learned he was in protocols Tuesday morning and Strus was given the news just minutes before tipoff on Tuesday evening.
That left the Heat without Bam Adebayo (thumb surgery), Dewayne Dedmon (left knee sprain), Haslem (protocols), Lowry (protocols), Markieff Morris (whiplash), Victor Oladipo (right knee injury recovery), Strus (protocols) and P.J. Tucker (left lower leg nerve inflammation) for Tuesday’s home game against the Washington Wizards.
In addition, Heat assistant coach Caron Butler and head athletic trainer Jay Sabol remain away from the team because they are also in protocols. Also, Heat executive Alonzo Mourning announced Tuesday on Instagram that he recently tested positive for COVID-19.
But assistant coach Chris Quinn was expected back on Miami’s bench for Tuesday’s contest after he watched Sunday’s win over the Orlando Magic on an iPad from the FTX Arena parking garage as he waited for his COVID-19 test result. Quinn ended up testing negative.
With contact tracing no longer keeping vaccinated players out, Haslem and Strus’ entrance into protocols likely means they 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.
“It has been crazy,” Haslem said last week to the Miami Herald of the NBA’s COVID-19 situation. “I can’t believe that we’re actually back here again. I knew the numbers were going to spike. But it’s kind of scary to see that we’re back here again.
“But reading everything that we’re not going to lock down and we’re going to stay in the season, that’s encouraging. But it’s scary. You got to be careful. We’re not going to live our lives in a bubble, though. We got to move around, we got to engage. But we got to be safe, we got to try to enjoy our holidays. But there’s a responsibility and accountability out here right now to try to be safe. But I don’t know if there’s much you can do, man. The way it’s spreading like wild fire, I don’t know.”
Without Adebayo, Dedmon and Haslem, the only available center remaining for the Heat is rookie Omer Yurtseven. Third-year forward KZ Okpala (6-8, 215 pounds) will likely need to play as a center during the minutes that Yurtseven is on the bench until Miami gets frontcourt players back.
Adebayo isn’t expected back until mid-January, Dedmon is expected to miss at least another week and there is no timetable for Morris’ return.
But the seemingly imminent return of Tucker will help give Miami another small-ball center option with Adebayo, Dedmon, Haslem and Morris unavailable. Coach Erik Spoelstra said that Tucker, who was listed as questionable for Tuesday’s game before being ruled out, is making progress and went through the team’s morning shootaround session.
It looked like Haslem, 41, was going to have a consistent role in the Heat’s short-handed power rotation for the next few games before being sidelined by protocols. He played in his third straight game on Sunday for the first time since December 2017.
Strus enters protocols while in the middle of the best stretch of his NBA career. He started the previous three games for the injured Tucker, and averaged 22.6 points on 52 percent shooting from the field and 44.4 percent shooting on threes in his last five games.
The NBA and National Basketball Players Association recently agreed to shorten the quarantine period from 10 days to six days for NBA players and coaches who test positive for COVID-19. According to a memo sent to teams on Monday, players and coaches can now clear quarantine after six days if COVID-19 testing data shows they’re no longer at risk to be infectious.
Players and coaches can also still clear protocols if they return consecutive negative PCR tests at least 24 hours apart.
Under the new rules, Lowry’s six-day quarantine runs through Friday, and Haslem and Strus’ six-day quarantine runs through Monday. The Heat begins a long seven-game trip on Wednesday against the San Antonio Spurs (8:30 p.m., Bally Sports Sun).
Haslem and Strus are the third and fourth Heat players to enter protocols this season. Two-way contract wing Caleb Martin was the first, entering protocols on Dec. 11 after testing positive for COVID-19 and missing seven straight games before returning in Sunday’s win over the Magic.
With three players in protocols, the Heat is eligible to sign three players to 10-day contracts as COVID-19 replacements without those moves affecting the team’s salary cap or luxury tax situation, according to recently modified rules. Miami already has one on its roster, as forward Zylan Cheatham was signed by the Heat last week to a 10-day deal as a COVID-19 replacement for Martin and has remained on the team as a replacement for Lowry.
But the Heat will need to sign another COVID-19 replacement player before Wednesday’s game in San Antonio unless one of its players in protocols is cleared before then. NBA rules say that teams with three players in protocols need to have at least two replacement players on its roster.
The Wizards are dealing with their own COVID-19 issues, ruling out Bradley Beal, Thomas Bryant, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Anthony Gill, Rui Hachimura, Montrezl Harrell, Aaron Holiday and Raul Neto because of health and safety protocols. Harrell and Hachimura entered protocols on Tuesday.
CROTTY ALSO SIDELINED
Heat television analyst John Crotty also recently tested positive for COVID-19. Radio analyst Ruth Riley Hunter will fill in for Crotty alongside television play-by-play announcer Eric Reid for the Bally Sports Sun broadcast of Tuesday’s game against the Wizards.
The Heat’s television and radio broadcasts for the first six games of its seven-game trip, which begins Wednesday, will be handled remotely as a precaution. The team will re-evaluate the situation before the Heat’s Jan. 12 game in Atlanta.
This story was originally published December 28, 2021 at 12:28 PM.
