The Miami Heat are dealing with a full-blown COVID outbreak, not to mention numerous injuries to key players. That being said, they don't have the league minimum of eight players available for Wednesday's game against the San Antonio Spurs, which resulted in a postponement:
The following was released by the NBA: pic.twitter.com/fQZ2ZC8Zed
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) December 29, 2021
This is definitely unfortunate because the Heat has been on a roll. Erik Spoelstra's squad is riding a four-game winning streak and most recently took down the Wizards on Tuesday night. On the season, they're 22-13 which puts them in fourth spot in the always competitive Eastern Conference.
Kyle Lowry, Udonis Haslem, P.J. Tucker, Gabe Vincent, and Max Strus are all currently sidelined due to the virus. On top of that, Jimmy Butler is out with ankle soreness, while Markieff Morris is still feeling the effects of that shove from Nikola Jokic. Basically, the Heat's entire core is unavailable therefore it was literally impossible for them to play against San Antonio.
Miami has a couple of days off until their next contest on Friday at Houston. Hopefully, a few different players can clear protocols by then or get healthy from injury. Butler sprained his ankle vs. Washington and shouldn't be out too long but it's unknown if he'll be able to suit up against the Rockets.
