With three additional players entering health and safety protocols and two more added to the team’s growing injury list, the Miami Heat’s Wednesday night road game against the San Antonio Spurs was postponed.
The decision was made with the Heat unable to field the NBA-required roster of at least eight available players.
Wednesday morning the Heat announced that guard Gabe Vincent, forward P.J. Tucker and recent roster addition Zylan Cheatham had been placed in the league’s pandemic protocols. Those three were added to a Heat protocol list that already included Kyle Lowry, Bam Adebayo and Max Strus.
Those absences came with the Heat already lacking due to injury Bam Adebayo (thumb), Dewayne Dedmon (knee), Markieff Morris (neck) and Victor Oladipo (knee).
In addition, the Heat announced Wednesday that Jimmy Butler was out due to the sprained right ankle sustained at the close of Wednesday night’s 119-112 victory over the Washington Wizards at FTX Arena. Then, hours later, the Heat announced that KZ Okpala was out due to a sprained right wrist.
Lacking those 12 who are out due to illness or injury left the Heat one shy of the NBA minimum eight players required to play a game, a total that would have included emergency 10-day additions Kyle Guy and Aric Holman.
Vincent played 34:47 on Tuesday night’s 119-112 victory over the Washington Wizards at FTX Arena. Tucker missed the game due to lower-leg nerve pain.
The Heat had planned to add Holman, in part, because he was within driving distance of Wednesday night’s game, as a member of the Spurs’ G League affiliate in Austin, Texas.
The Heat initially were encouraged by the NBA to pick as many available roster players as needed from the Austin Spurs to meet the eight-player requirement.
Vincent took a rapid test following Tuesday night’s game and remained behind once he received that positive test. Tucker and Cheatham both flew with the team to San Antonio, where they now must quarantine.
The fact that Tucker traveled was an indication that he was poised for a return, after missing the Heat’s 4-0 homestand with the injury suffered in the Dec. 19 road loss to the Detroit Pistons.
The Heat’s next scheduled game is Friday on the road against the Houston Rockets.
“I’ve said it before, there’s not a playbook that you can refer to on this,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said Tuesday, as his team’s roster was further thinned by protocols. “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.”
Beyond the roster, assistant coach Caron Butler remains away from the team, in health and safety protocols, as is trainer Jay Sabol, who had been charged with overseeing the Heat’s coronavirus protocols, remains in protocols.
On the broadcast side, a positive test took analyst John Crotty off Bally Sports Sun telecasts, with radio analyst Ruth Riley Hunter shifted into that role alongside Eric Reid.
For the most part, those who have tested positive for the Heat have been asymptomatic or have been dealing with minor symptoms.
“That’s the perplexing thing about this right now, this variant,” Spoelstra said. “I think we’ve gotten to a point where we need more information. Are there more asymptomatic cases? And all this is with the caveat of, OK, with double vaccination with a booster and then asymptomatic. What does that mean and what adjustments can we make from there?”
