Miami Heat: Why Kendrick Nunn’s current absence isn’t so bad

The Miami Heat are now down another player. Kendrick Nunn left the Orlando bubble over the last few days but it isn’t all that bad and here’s why.

The Miami Heat are preparing themselves for what is sure to be a challenging matchup against the Phoenix Suns on Saturday evening. To make that task even more daunting, the Suns have surprisingly been one of the best teams in the bubble since it started, while the Miami Heat will be down a few guys as well.

While Goran Dragic or Jimmy Butler didn’t play in their last contest, a massive letdown to the Milwaukee Bucks, Jimmy Butler hasn’t suited up in two games. He also missed the Celtics contest from earlier this week, after apparently tweaking something in the Toronto contest just a day before.

To add further onto that now though, the Miami Heat will also be without Kendrick Nunn in their upcoming contest against the red hot Suns team. His absence is listed as for “personal reasons”, although social media sleuths have since assumed and shown evidence that he could have been attending a funeral.

We sure hope he gets the chance to take care of whatever it is. We also would like to send him our wishes if it was indeed due to a death in his family.

The Miami Heat are down a few players for Saturday’s game. It isn’t all bad though.

You then turn your attention back to the court though. In thinking deeply about it for a few moments, if Kendrick Nunn is to miss this game and who knows, perhaps even a few more contests, it wouldn’t be all bad. Here’s why.

Kendrick Nunn has really struggled since coming back to the team for the restart. What this situation allows for is for the Coach Spo to get a different guy, Tyler Herro or Gabe Vincent perhaps, into that starting lineup role.

While this may just seem like the thing to do or simply next man up, it has actually been looking to trend this way for the last few games. Although he played nearly 30 minutes in the Heat’s last contest against Milwaukee, due to the team’s health and injury situation, he played just 22, 15, and 16 minutes in each of the three games before that, respectively.

This is for a guy who has been averaging nearly 30 minutes a night for the entire season. Basically, he had been struggling mightily before his excused absence and his playing time took a hit for it.

This gives everybody a good reason to see Tyler or someone else in that starting role, without having to seemingly relegate or call out Nunn, which could impact his psyche or the team’s chemistry.

This makes it seem natural, organic, and simply the way it should go with Nunn being away. That’s why Kendrick Nunn’s current absence isn’t so bad at all.