The Miami Heat haven’t seemed to be able to catch a break and it didn’t just start. You could take it all the way back to early November, which would specifically be the first game against the Denver Nuggets.
Yes, that one, the one with the now-infamous dustup between Markieff Morris and Nikola Jokic. Though he seems to be on his way back, according to himself, he’s been out ever since with a neck injury as a result of that situation.
Continuing on throughout their schedule and up until this point, they still won’t have Bam Adebayo for, at least, three more weeks (a total 4-6 week absence), while Jimmy Butler has been down for going on three weeks now (missed a week initially with tailbone and then another two weeks since after injuring it again against Memphis in first game back).
Adding them just getting Tyler Herro back a few games ago after a few games away, Caleb Martin still hasn’t returned after missing time while being in Health And Safety Protocols. Perhaps, most drastic right now is the fact that their lone regular-rotation big after Bam, Dewayne Dedmon, is now out for a couple of weeks or so after spraining his knee in the most recent Detroit win.
The Miami Heat had been having great fortune with the league’s Health And Safety Protocols, however, they now see their star point guard go into it.
It’s complete madness, but that’s not like any other team. Where a ton of the teams in the league have experienced H&S Protocol issues, the Heat were pretty manageable there until Caleb went into them.
Now though, the lone star guy that has been keeping them afloat sees himself on that list. Here is the report.
Miami’s Kyle Lowry has entered COVID-19 protocols.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) December 25, 2021
That’s tough news. Really tough news.
With Kyle Lowry being the surefire engine and leader without their best two players going, they now lose him for a while. If he doesn’t test out of the protocols, returning two negative tests in a 24-hour window, then he will miss 10 days of action.
That means that he wouldn’t be eligible to return until January 4th, where the Heat’s next game after that is on the following day. Who is to say that he is even able to play then though, with some guys needing to regain conditioning after missing time in the protocols.
It’s a very sticky situation and begs of a ton of questions. These are some of the most pertinent.
It also begs of whether there will be more urgency to get Jimmy back into the lineup, as there was some thought he could go in their last game. Hopefully, Lowry and his family are all safe and sound from this, but the Miami Heat sure have some figuring to do.