Miami Heat Rumors | Hoops Rumors

NBA Postpones Heat/Spurs Game

December 29th, 2021 at 2:26pm CST by Luke Adams

The NBA has postponed the game between the Heat and the Spurs that was scheduled to be played in San Antonio on Wednesday night, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link). Miami doesn’t have the required minimum of eight players available.

The Heat have 12 players sidelined due to either COVID-19 or injuries. Zylan Cheatham, Udonis Haslem, Kyle Lowry, Max Strus, P.J. Tucker, and Gabe Vincent are in the health and safety protocols, while Bam Adebayo (thumb), Jimmy Butler (ankle), Dewayne Dedmon (knee), Markieff Morris (neck), KZ Okpala (wrist), and Victor Oladipo (knee) are injured.

That leaves Miami with just five players – Tyler Herro, Duncan Robinson, Omer Yurtseven, Caleb Martin, and Marcus Garrett – available from their standard roster. The Heat had agreed to 10-day deals for Kyle Guy and Aric Holman, but those signings aren’t official yet and would still leave the team one player short of the minimum.

Before the Heat resume their schedule on Friday in Houston, they’ll likely finalize their signings of Guy and Holman and add at least a couple more replacement players in order to avoid another postponement.

Wednesday’s Heat/Spurs game is the 10th contest to be postponed so far this season, as our tracker shows.

Heat To Sign Aric Holman To 10-Day Contract

December 29th, 2021 at 10:10am CST by Luke Adams

The Heat will sign big man Aric Holman to a 10-day contract using a hardship exception, sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link).

As Wojnarowski details, Holman had been playing for the Austin Spurs in the G League, which means he’s within driving distance of San Antonio. The plan is for him to head there immediately to join the Heat in advance of Wednesday’s game vs. the Spurs to help avoid a postponement.

Three more Heat players entered the health and safety protocols today, bringing the team’s total to six. With four players also injured, the team is at risk of not having the required minimum of eight players for tonight’s contest. Holman and Kyle Guy, who has also agreed to a 10-day deal, should help Miami get there.

Holman, who went undrafted out of Mississippi State in 2019, played in Germany last season but has otherwise been in the G League since going pro. In 14 games (20.4 MPG) for Austin this season, the 24-year-old averaged 7.5 PPG, 4.7 RPG, 2.0 APG, and 1.5 BPG on .463/.326/.250 shooting (that free-throw mark came on just four attempts).

Three More Heat Players Enter COVID-19 Protocols

December 29th, 2021 at 9:51am CST by Luke Adams

P.J. Tucker, Gabe Vincent, and Zylan Cheatham have entered the health and safety protocols, according to Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald (Twitter link). As Chiang notes, there are now six Heat players in the protocols, with Tucker, Vincent, and Cheatham joining Kyle Lowry, Max Strus, and Udonis Haslem.

Tucker had already missed the last four games due to a left leg injury, but Vincent and Cheatham were two of nine players active for Miami on Tuesday.

With six players now in the protocols and four others – Bam Adebayo, Dewayne Dedmon, Victor Oladipo, and Markieff Morris – dealing with injuries, the Heat will need to make at least one roster move to ensure they meet the required minimum of eight players before their game on Wednesday in San Antonio.

The Heat are reportedly expected to add Kyle Guy on a 10-day contract, which will get them up to eight players as long as the other seven who were active on Tuesday are good to go on Wednesday. That’s not a given though — as Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel tweets, Jimmy Butler (ankle) and KZ Okpala (wrist) are banged up and may not be available. For what it’s worth, Okpala is currently listed as questionable, while Butler isn’t on the team’s injury report.

Miami is eligible to complete up to four more hardship additions, but it’s unclear how many more signings the team will be able to complete before tip-off tonight.

Heat To Sign Kyle Guy To 10-Day Contract

December 29th, 2021 at 7:48am CST by Luke Adams

The Heat are signing guard Kyle Guy to a 10-day contract using a hardship exception, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link). Guy will be Miami’s second hardship signing, joining Zylan Cheatham.

The 55th overall pick in the 2019 draft, Guy spent his first two NBA seasons on a two-way contract with Sacramento, but played a very limited role with the Kings, appearing in 34 games and averaging 2.7 PPG and 1.0 APG in 7.2 minutes per contest.

Guy has seen more action at the G League level, appearing in 37 games with the Stockton Kings as a rookie and 12 more games this season with the Cleveland Charge, the Cavaliers’ G League affiliate. The 24-year-old has averaged 21.1 PPG, 4.6 APG, and 4.3 RPG on .421/.392/.758 shooting in 35.7 MPG over the course of his NBAGL career.

Guy will earn $95,930 on his 10-day deal, which won’t count against Miami’s team salary for cap or tax purposes.

The Heat have three players in the health and safety protocols, so they’re eligible to sign one more player via a hardship exception if they so choose. There’s no indication that’s in the immediate plans though.

COVID Updates: Schroder, Richardson, Bullock, Konchar, Ilyasova

December 28th, 2021 at 6:20pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Here are the latest developments on players entering or exiting the league’s health and safety protocols:

The Celtics got some good news, as Dennis Schröder and Josh Richardson have exited the COVID-19 protocols, Jared Weiss tweets. Schroder last played on Wednesday, while Richardson has been sidelined since Dec. 18. Boston plays the Clippers tomorrow.
Mavericks swingman Reggie Bullock has cleared the protocols, Brad Townsend of the Dallas Morning News tweets. The Mavs still have a handful of players in the protocols, including franchise player Luka Doncic. That group will miss Wednesday’s game against Sacramento.
Grizzlies guard John Konchar has entered the protocols, the team’s PR department tweets. Konchar contributed a combined 18 points and 23 rebounds in a back-to-back over the past two nights.
Forward Ersan Ilyasova, signed to a 10-day deal by the Bulls on Wednesday, has entered the protocols, K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago tweets.
Heat guard Max Strus entered the protocols shortly before the team’s game against Washington on Tuesday, Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press tweets.

COVID-19 Roundup: Nets, Timberwolves, Cavaliers, Knicks, Wizards, Thunder

December 28th, 2021 at 12:52pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

The NBA’s new guidelines regarding its health and safety protocols have resulted in several players being released from protocols this morning. The league and its players union agreed Monday to shorten the minimum required quarantine period for a vaccinated COVID-positive players and coaches from 10 days to six.

Here is the latest news on who has entered and cleared protocols today:

Nets stars Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving are out of protocols, as is LaMarcus Aldridge, tweets Tim Bontemps of ESPN. While Durant and Aldridge may be ready for Thursday’s game, Irving is still working his way back into game condition and remains ineligible to play in home games because he hasn’t met New York City’s vaccine requirement.
Timberwolves forward Taurean Prince has cleared protocols and will rejoin the team, but won’t play tonight against the Knicks, tweets ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Minnesota also gets back Anthony Edwards and Naz Reid (Twitter link).
Cavaliers power forward Evan Mobley has cleared protocols and is set to reunite with the club today, Shams Charania of The Athletic reports (via Twitter). Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com tweets that the Cavaliers hope to have Mobley play in tonight’s game against the Pelicans, but will put him through his pregame paces first to gauge his conditioning level.
Unfortunately, just as one of Cleveland’s best players recovers, another will be absent. Cavaliers guard Darius Garland, enjoying a nearly All-Star-level season with Cleveland, has entered the NBA’s coronavirus protocols, tweets Kelsey Russo of The Athletic.
Knicks rookie point guard guard Miles McBride has cleared protocols, the team has announced (via Twitter). New York adds that he has rejoined the team ahead of its game tonight against the Timberwolves.
Veteran Heat power forward Udonis Haslem has entered the league’s coronavirus protocols, writes Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald. Heat point guard Kyle Lowry is also in protocols. Miami assistant coach Chris Quinn will return to the sidelines, Chiang adds.
Wizards forwards Rui Hachimura and Montrezl Harrell have entered the league’s COVID-19 protocols, joining six other Washington players, the team has announced (Twitter link). Hachimura has missed the Wizards’ entire season thus far due to personal reasons. Among the others, unvaccinated All-Star guard Bradley Beal is still in protocols and Wallace reports that his status is “questionable” prior to the Wizards’ upcoming contest against the Heat tonight. Center Thomas Bryant, wing Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, and guards Anthony Gill, Aaron Holiday and Raul Neto are still in protocols.
Thunder rookie guard Josh Giddey has entered the league’s health and safety protocols, per Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link). Head coach Mark Daigneault has also entered the NBA’s COVID-19 protocols, and will be replaced by assistant coach Mike Wilks starting with this evening’s contest against the Kings, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (via Twitter). Wilks, a former journeyman NBA guard, suited up for four games with the Thunder during the 2009/10 season, Joe Mussatto of the Oklahoman adds (Twitter link). Players Darius Bazley, Tre Mann, Aleksej Pokusevski, and Jeremiah Robinson-Earl remain in the protocols for Oklahoma City.
Keep track of all the players currently in COVID-19 protocols through out our daily tracker.

Arthur Hill contributed to this report.

Kyle Lowry Enters Health And Safety Protocols

December 25th, 2021 at 4:37pm CST by Arthur Hill

The short-handed Heat will have to survive for a while without point guard Kyle Lowry, who has been placed in the NBA’s health and safety protocols, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic.

Lowry, 35, was Miami’s major offseason acquisition and has helped the team rise to fourth in the East despite injuries to Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo. Lowry is averaging 13.9 points, 4.6 rebounds and 8.2 assists through 31 games and remains a feared defender in the backcourt.

Butler, who hasn’t played since December 6 because of an injured tailbone, is hoping to return soon and is listed as questionable for Sunday’s game with the Magic. P.J. Tucker is also questionable, while Adebayo, Dewayne Dedmon and Markieff Morris are all sidelined with injuries. However, with Caleb Martin returning this week, Lowry will be the only Heat player in protocols.

If Lowry tested positive for COVID-19, he will miss 10 days unless he can submit consecutive negative tests at least 24 hours apart. Counting tomorrow’s game, Miami plays six times in the next 10 days.

Dewayne Dedmon Out 1-2 Weeks For Heat

December 24th, 2021 at 5:58pm CST by Rory Maher

Heat center Dewayne Dedmon, who has been starting in place of the injured Bam Adebayo, has suffered a Grade 1-Plus MCL sprain and is expected to miss one-to-two weeks, our JD Shaw tweets. Dedmon was injured early in the Heat’s 115-112 victory over the Pistons on Thursday.

In 33 games this season, Dedmon is averaging 6.5 points and 6.1 rebounds on a .575/.600/.750 shooting line in 17.2 minutes (the 60% mark on threes is a very small sample size — he’s 12-for-20 on the season). Those numbers jump up to 23.1 minutes, 8.1 points and 8.1 rebounds in his 15 starts.

A nine-year NBA veteran, Dedmon has been a solid defender and inside presence for the 20-13 Heat, the No. 4 seed in the East. He’d played in all of Miami’s games prior to suffering the knee sprain.

In addition to Dedmon and Adebayo being sidelined, the Heat have been without star Jimmy Butler (back) for 12 of their past 13 games, and Markieff Morris has missed 23 straight with whiplash, so their frontcourt depth is very limited.

Rookie center Omer Yurtseven, who’s averaging 12.3 rebounds in just 21.6 minutes over his last four games, should see more minutes in Dedmon’s absence. Udonis Haslem, the oldest player in the NBA, could also see an uptick in minutes.

NBA Makes Minor Adjustment To Hardship Rules

December 24th, 2021 at 10:22am CST by Luke Adams

The NBA has made a minor adjustment to its new hardship rules, according to Bobby Marks of ESPN (Twitter links).

As Marks outlines, a player who is signed to a 10-day hardship deal can now be moved to the inactive list if the player he was replacing comes out of the health and safety protocols and is cleared to return before that 10-day deal expires.

Under the previous hardship rules, the player on the 10-day contract would have to be waived once the player he replaced has been cleared.

For instance, the Bulls had several players exit the NBA’s COVID-19 protocols this week and no longer have any players affected. But the team still has three players signed to 10-day hardship contracts — Alfonzo McKinnie‘s deal runs through December 29, while Ersan Ilyasova and Mac McClung are under contract through December 31.

Under the new rules, if all the Chicago players who were in the protocols are cleared to return, the team could move McKinnie, Ilyasova, and/or McClung to the inactive list rather than immediately terminating their contracts. That would allow the Bulls to avoid having to sign a new replacement player if they have another player test positive for COVID-19 in the next week — in that scenario, they could simply reactivate one of their current replacements, as long as that player’s 10-day deal has yet to expire.

The Heat are another team that could be impacted by this rule in the short term, since they no longer have any players in the protocols and Zylan Cheatham is on a 10-day contract that runs through next Friday. However, many teams besides Chicago and Miami could find themselves in similar situations in the coming days as more players exit the protocols.

Heat Notes: Martin, Knight, Okpala, Yurtseven

December 24th, 2021 at 8:25am CST by Luke Adams

Heat two-way forward Caleb Martin, who had been in the health and safety protocols since December 11, was back with the team on Thursday night, seated behind the bench, as Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel tweets.

A short-ramp up period may be necessary for Martin, who will have to pass cardiac tests before being cleared to return to the court. But it’s good news for both him and the Heat that he’s no longer quarantining and appears to be on the verge of reentering the rotation.

While Miami has had to deal with several injuries in recent weeks, Martin is the only player the team has had to place in the COVID-19 protocols so far this month.

Here’s more on the Heat:

The new roster rules that eliminate the 50-game limit for players on two-way contracts is welcome news for the Heat, since Martin has been among the NBA’s most productive two-way players so far this season and has already appeared in 23 games. However, as Barry Jackson and Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald write, the Heat still may have to make a decision on Martin later in the season, since two-way players remain ineligible for the playoffs. The team has an open spot on its 15-man roster for now, but figures to explore the buyout market in February.
Head coach Erik Spoelstra confirmed to reporters on Thursday that the Heat couldn’t have signed Brandon Knight via a hardship exception when Martin was in the protocols, since a replacement for a two-way player can’t have more than three years of NBA service (Twitter link via Chiang). Knight had been playing for Miami’s G League affiliate, but was called up by Dallas while the Heat signed forward Zylan Cheatham to a 10-day deal.
Although the Heat would obviously prefer to have a fully healthy roster, the silver lining is that little-used players like KZ Okpala and Omer Yurtseven are gaining valuable experience by being thrust into rotation roles, Chiang writes for The Miami Herald. “I know it’s a tough time of the season right now,” Udonis Haslem said. “We got a lot of injuries, but we’re banking a lot of equity right now with our younger guys getting experience. I think when we get back healthy, it’s only going to help us.”