- The Heat anticipate that rookie starting point guard Kendrick Nunn will clear quarantine on Wednesday and be available to play for the team on Wednesday night, per Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel. Nunn returned to the Disney World campus late Saturday night after departing the NBA’s restart to tend to a personal matter.
During last year’s NBA Finals, then-Warriors forward Andre Iguodala addressed the topic of his eventual retirement, suggesting that he had “a good idea” of how much longer he wanted to play. At the time, Iguodala claimed he could play four or five more years, but didn’t plan to do so.
Speaking this week to Mark Medina of USA Today, Iguodala – now a member of the Heat – revisited that topic and provided a more concrete timeline for the potential end of his career.
“I have about a year or two left,” the former Finals MVP told Medina. “I’m serious this time. I got two left.”
When the Heat acquired Iguodala from the Grizzlies at this year’s trade deadline, they agreed to a two-year contract extension that includes a guaranteed $15MM salary for 2020/21 and a $15MM team option for ’21/22. Presumably, the 36-year-old plans to play out that contract, though if Miami doesn’t pick up his option next year, perhaps he’ll consider retiring after just one more season.
According to Medina, one of the primary factors in Iguodala’s thinking is his desire to spend more time with his family, helping wife Christina raise their teenage son, Andre Jr.
“He lives a rich and soft life. So I have to prepare him to be self-sufficient,” Iguodala told Medina, half joking. “He’s smart enough, but he hasn’t dealt with any danger. Coming from where we come from, it helps us in terms of having street awareness. You have to scope the scene and know there is danger around. But he’s so comfortable that I have to reign him in.”
Iguodala no longer has the same kind of impact on the court that he did when he averaged nearly 20.0 PPG with the Sixers in 2008 or when he won his NBA Finals MVP award with Golden State in 2015. Still, he has established himself as a regular, reliable part of the Heat’s rotation since joining the club in February. In 20 games for Miami (20.2 MPG), he has averaged 4.8 PPG, 3.9 RPG, and 2.6 APG.
Heat guard Tyler Herro showed flashes of brilliance in the team’s 119-112 loss to the Suns on Saturday, Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald writes.
Herro, who’s still in his rookie season, recorded 25 points, eight rebounds and 10 assists on 10-for-16 shooting, putting forth one of his best games this year. Despite his impressive play, Miami still lost the contest due to poor defense, injured players, and questionable rotations.
“I’m not happy with the way we’re playing,” Bam Adebayo said. “We got to get over this hump. We’re in a gray cloud that we can’t get out of. It’s my job as a leader and as a quote unquote vet to really hone in and really lead this team to a victory. Even though we have two major guys out, the next man up and I got do a better job of leading this team to victory.”
Miami has lost three of its last four games and currently owns a 2-3 record in Orlando. The Heat are slated to face the Pacers on Monday in a showdown likely featuring Jimmy Butler and T.J. Warren, with Butler telling the New York Times’ Marc Stein (Twitter link) that he’s on track to return from injury.
It’s unclear whether Goran Dragic (ankle) will be available for the contest, though he did practice on Sunday. Starting point guard Kendrick Nunn (personal) will miss the game after leaving the NBA’s campus and returning over the weekend.
Here are some more notes from the Southeast Division:
- Multiple Heat members have been forced to deal with COVID-19 testing glitches, naturally causing some uneasy moments for the team, Barry Jackson details in a story for the Miami Herald. According to ESPN, an inconclusive test generally happens in five out of every 1,000 tests. Any player who receives an inconclusive result must test negative in an immediate retest, then again within one hour of a game’s tip-off.
- The Magic can apply for a Disabled Player Exception worth $3.78MM starting in October, according to ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link). Orlando lost forward Jonathan Isaac for the season after he sustained a torn ACL and torn meniscus last week. The exception would allow the team to sign, acquire or claim a player on a one-year contract if Isaac is considered likely to miss all of next season.
- Wizards guard Jerome Robinson has shown consistency at the NBA’s campus in Orlando, Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington writes. Robinson was averaging 17 points in four games heading into the team’s contest against Oklahoma City on Sunday, where he exceeded his average by recording 19 points with six assists.
The NBA has announced the finalists for several awards as the seeding games on the Orlando campus move forward and the postseason nears. It was announced in July that all awards for the 2019/20 season would be based on games up until March 11, when the coronavirus pandemic shuttered play. Media members made their votes before the seeding games began on July 30.
NBA Most Valuable Player Finalists:
- Giannis Antetokounmpo (Bucks)
- LeBron James (Lakers)
- James Harden (Rockets)
NBA Defensive Player of the Year:
- Giannis Antetokounmpo (Bucks)
- Anthony Davis (Lakers)
- Rudy Gobert (Jazz)
NBA Rookie of the Year:
- Zion Williamson (Pelicans)
- Kendrick Nunn (Heat)
- Ja Morant (Grizzlies)
NBA Most Improved Player:
- Bam Adebayo (Heat)
- Luka Doncic (Mavericks)
- Brandon Ingram (Pelicans)
NBA Sixth Man of the Year:
- Montrezl Harrell (Clippers)
- Dennis Schröder (Thunder)
- Lou Williams (Clippers)
NBA Coach of the Year:
- Mike Budenholzer (Bucks)
- Billy Donovan (Thunder)
- Nick Nurse (Raptors)
The winners for the awards will be announced during the NBA playoffs after the seeding games period concludes on August 14.
Heat guard Kendrick Nunn has left the NBA’s Walt Disney World campus for personal reasons, according to Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Twitter link). His absence isn’t related to the coronavirus, Winderman adds.
Any player who leaves the NBA’s campus with team approval must test negative for COVID-19 each day he’s away, or in each of the seven days prior to his return, in order to ensure he only has to quarantine for four days upon returning. Failing to follow those protocols would result in a quarantine of up to 10-to-14 days.
An absence of a week or more would compromise Nunn’s availability for the start of the playoffs on August 17, but Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald tweets that the rookie isn’t expected to be gone for long.
Nunn, the Heat’s starting point guard, has had an impressive rookie season, averaging 15.2 PPG and 3.3 APG on .443/.356/.840 shooting in 66 games (29.2 MPG). However, he’s off to a slow start this summer, with those numbers dipping to 7.8 PPG, 1.5 APG, and .324/.250/1.000 in four games so far.
With Nunn unavailable, Goran Dragic would be the most logical candidate to take his spot in the starting five, but Dragic is battling an ankle injury and is considered questionable for Saturday’s game (Twitter link via Jackson). As a result, Tyler Herro could see increased ball-handling duties against Phoenix.
Heat swingman Jimmy Butler, who continues to battle a right foot injury, has been ruled out for Saturday’s matchup with Phoenix, according to Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Twitter link). It will be the third consecutive game that Butler has missed.
Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra said on Thursday that Butler underwent both an MRI and an X-ray on the foot, which revealed no structural damage, per Barry Jackson and Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. The hope for now is that rest is the best treatment for the All-Star wing.
“Jimmy had his final scan yesterday. And we understand what he’s dealing with,” agent Bernie Lee told The Herald. “And he’s working his butt off to get back on the floor ASAP and to be ready for the playoffs.”
The postseason isn’t scheduled to begin until August 17, so Butler has another 10 days to work his way back from the injury, which is mostly affecting his right ankle, according to Jackson and Chiang.
Here’s more from around the Southeast:
- In the wake of Jonathan Isaac‘s season-ending ACL tear, Josh Robbins and John Hollinger of The Athletic examine how the injury will affect Isaac and the Magic going forward. Hollinger believes Isaac’s long-term All-Star potential still exists, but says the young forward now has a “longer, less certain pathway” to reaching that ceiling.
- After a series of conversations with sources and draft experts, Chris Kirschner of The Athletic takes a shot at filling out the top of the Hawks‘ draft board. Kirschner has Anthony Edwards at No. 1, followed by Deni Avdija, Isaac Okoro, Tyrese Haliburton, LaMelo Ball, Devin Vassell, Killian Hayes, and Onyeka Okongwu.
- Limits on team traveling parties mean that the Heat don’t have all their coaches and top executives with them at Walt Disney World, but head coach Erik Spoelstra said this week that he’s getting “daily notes” from president Pat Riley and other members of the organization, as Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun-Sentinel details.
- Jimmy Butler (right foot soreness) is listed as out for the Heat‘s game on Thursday vs. Milwaukee, tweets Eric Woodyard of ESPN. Butler also missed Tuesday’s game, the second of a back-to-back set, but his ailment isn’t believed to be serious.
- Heat guard Goran Dragic suffered a slight ankle sprain near the end of Tuesday’s win over Boston, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, who tweets that X-rays on the ankle came back negative.
- Speaking of back-to-backs, the Heat held Jimmy Butler (right ankle soreness) out of the second leg of a back-to-back set on Tuesday, while the Celtics are doing the same with Kemba Walker on Wednesday (Twitter link). Both teams are likely just playing it safe with their All-Stars.
- The Heat need to show team president Pat Riley that he doesn’t need to use a chunk of his cap space this offseason on other teams’ free agents, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald opines. Miami has six impending free agents and the best-case scenario would be to re-sign some of those players to one-year deals and then dive into a much more attractive free agent market next summer. The Heat defeated Denver and lost to Toronto in their first two seeding games.
Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer and Thunder head coach Billy Donovan have been voted the co-coaches of the year by the National Basketball Coaches Association, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
This award, introduced in 2017, isn’t the NBA’s official Coach of the Year award, which is voted on by media members and is represented by the Red Auerbach Trophy. The winner of that award is expected to be announced at some point during the postseason this summer.
The Coaches Association’s version of the award – named after longtime NBCA executive director Michael H. Goldberg – is voted on by the NBA’s 30 head coaches, none of whom can vote for himself.
Budenholzer, who also won the NBCA’s award in 2019, has had even more success with the East-leading Bucks this season. His team has a 54-13 record and – before the season was suspended – had been on pace to surpass the 60 victories that last year’s Milwaukee squad racked up.
As for Donovan, he has exceeded expectations with a Thunder team that was viewed as a borderline playoff contender and a candidate for a full-fledged rebuild. Instead of returning to the lottery following the offseason departures of Russell Westbrook and Paul George, Oklahoma City is 41-24, good for sixth in the Western Conference. A strong finish over the next couple weeks could result in a top-four record in the conference for the Thunder.
Raptors head coach Nick Nurse, widely viewed as the favorite to win the official Coach of the Year award in 2020, was one vote away from finishing in a three-way tie with Budenholzer and Donovan, per Wojnarowski.
Sources tell ESPN that Taylor Jenkins (Grizzlies), Nate McMillan (Pacers), Erik Spoelstra (Heat), and Brad Stevens (Celtics), and Frank Vogel (Lakers) also received votes.