Heat’s COVID-19 outbreak grows, as Wednesday’s game vs. Spurs postponed. What’s next?
The Miami Heat’s COVID-19 outbreak forced the NBA to postpone Wednesday night’s game against the San Antonio Spurs at AT&T Center.
After Udonis Haslem and Max Strus joined Kyle Lowry as Heat players in the NBA’s health and safety protocols on Tuesday in the wake of positive COVID-19 tests, three others entered protocols on Wednesday. Zylan Cheatham, P.J. Tucker and Gabe Vincent are the latest to enter protocols after the entire roster went through a round of COVID-19 testing following Tuesday night’s home win against the Washington Wizards.
Along with six players in protocols, the Heat also ruled out six players for Wednesday’s game because of injuries: Bam Adebayo (thumb surgery), Jimmy Butler (sprained ankle), Dewayne Dedmon (knee sprain), Markieff Morris (whiplash), KZ Okpala (sprained wrist) and Victor Oladipo (knee injury recovery).
Even after planning to add guard Kyle Guy, forward Haywood Highsmith and forward/center Aric Holman on 10-day contracts as COVID-19 replacement players, the Heat was still left with only eight available players for Wednesday’s game: Marcus Garrett, Guy, Tyler Herro, Highsmith, Holman, Caleb Martin, Duncan Robinson and Omer Yurtseven. Teams need a minimum of eight players available to play a game, but the Heat faced challenges in clearing Guy and Holman through protocols in time for Wednesday’s game, according to a league source.
“The NBA announced today that the Miami Heat at San Antonio Spurs game scheduled for tonight at AT&T Center has been postponed,” the league wrote in a press release on Wednesday afternoon. “The Heat do not have the league-required eight available players to proceed with the game against the Spurs.”
Wednesday’s Heat-Spurs contest is the 10th NBA game postponed this season. The Heat’s social media accounts wrote that the game “will be rescheduled for a later date.”
While the Heat’s game against the Spurs has been postponed, Cheatham and Tucker must now quarantine in San Antonio after receiving their test results on Wednesday morning. But Vincent did not travel with the Heat and remains in Miami after receiving a positive result from a rapid test following Tuesday night’s game.
Wednesday’s game was supposed to mark the start of a seven-game trip for the Heat that spans two weeks. Miami’s next game is on Friday night against the Houston Rockets at Toyota Center.
The Heat still planned to fly to Houston from San Antonio on Wednesday night, as originally scheduled. The team underwent another round of testing on Wednesday morning to determine if other players, coaches or staff members were infected, but there were no additional positives found.
“You’re trying to keep a business going, you’re trying to keep everybody healthy, keep everybody safe,” coach Erik Spoelstra said Tuesday. “You’re trying to manage the unpredictable every single day. If anything, that part of it has been normalized. The unpredictability of every single day, you just have to accept that that’s what it’s going to be like for a while. The whole league is adjusting to it.”
While the signings have not been made official yet, the Heat is still planning to add Guy, Highsmith and Holman on 10-day contracts as COVID-19 replacements to add depth to its depleted roster. The team was still working on having Guy and Holman clear protocols to complete those signings, as of Wednesday afternoon.
Guy, who was drafted in the second round of the 2019 NBA Draft out of Virginia, averaged 20 points while shooting 45.1 percent from the field and 36.3 percent on 8.5 three-point attempts per game, 7.2 rebounds and four assists in 12 games with the G League’s Cleveland Charge this season.
Highsmith, who went undrafted in 2018, averaged 14 points while shooting 47.2 percent from the field and 39.1 percent on 5.8 three-point attempts per game, 5.2 rebounds and 1.1 steals in 12 games for the G League’s Delaware Blue Coats this season.
Holman, who went undrafted out of Mississippi State in 2019, averaged 7.5 points, 4.7 rebounds, two assists and 1.5 blocks in 14 games for the G League’s Austin Spurs this season. He’s just a drive away from San Antonio and Houston since he played in Austin.
When Guy, Highsmith and Holman are signed, the Heat will have four COVID-19 replacement players on its roster in Cheatham, Guy, Highsmith and Holman. At least three replacement players are required to be signed by a team when four or more players are in protocols, but Miami is eligible to add up to six since it currently has six players in protocols.
It’s worth noting that COVID-19 replacement players on 10-day contracts do not count toward a team’s salary cap or potential luxury tax payment.
As for when the Heat will get players back from health and safety protocols, some could be cleared in the coming days after the NBA and National Basketball Players Association recently agreed to shorten the quarantine period from 10 days to six days for players and coaches who test positive for COVID-19 if testing data shows they’re no longer at risk to be infectious.
Under the new rules, Lowry’s six-day quarantine runs through Thursday, Haslem and Strus’ six-day quarantine runs through Monday, and Cheatham, Tucker and Vincent’s six-day quarantine runs through Tuesday.
With Lowry potentially cleared in time, Butler’s injury not expected to be a long-term issue and COVID-19 replacement players on the way, the expectation is the Heat will have enough players to play Friday’s game against the Rockets. But the situation remains fluid depending on the result of upcoming COVID-19 tests.
In addition to six players in protocols, assistant coach Caron Butler and head athletic trainer Jay Sabol remain away from the Heat because of COVID-19. Other personnel around the team have also tested positive in recent days.
“I commend everybody for working together through all of this,” Spoelstra said Tuesday. “I’ve said it before, there’s not a playbook that you can refer to on this. It is a little bit different than last year and it’s different than the year before. But that’s just where we are right now. The most important thing is can we keep everybody healthy, everybody safe.
“For the most part from the information we’ve been gathering, those who are vaccinated and have gotten a booster and are responsible that your mostly asymptomatic or minor symptoms if you do get it. Then hopefully, we haven’t heard anything about whether people’s families have been infected by it or friends. So hopefully we can just keep that going and also just keep the schedule going.”
This story was originally published December 29, 2021 at 11:11 AM.
