Heat vs. Spurs Wednesday NBA injury report, spread, odds: Jimmy Butler joins massive Miami list of players out; postponement possible
The NBA might have to postpone tonight's Heat at Spurs game because Miami is so short-handed.
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The Miami Heat won with a fairly barebones roster Tuesday night at home against an equally short-handed Washington Wizards team, but with three more Heat players landing in COVID protocols Wednesday and a now-injured Jimmy Butler ruled out for tonight's game in San Antonio, it's quite possible the NBA will have to postpone the matchup. As of now, the Spurs are -5 at Caesars Sportsbook.
This morning, Zylan Cheatham (who?), P.J. Tucker and Gabe Vincent joined Kyle Lowry, Udonis Haslem and Max Strus in protocols -- and several other Miami players are out injured. Butler was fantastic in Tuesday's 119-112 win over the Wizards with 25 points, 15 assists and eight rebounds but apparently sprained his right ankle. (Or maybe the Heat don't really want to play this game?)
KZ Okpala is questionable with a sprained right wrist. If he can't go, that would leave the Heat with just seven players – NBA teams must have eight for a game to be played. How desperate is Miami? The team this morning signed Aric Holman to 10-day deal as a COVID-19 replacement.
Why Holman? Because he plays for the G League's Austin Spurs, so he's a relatively short drive away from San Antonio to be able to suit up tonight. Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel is reporting that the NBA essentially told the Heat to take any three available players from the Austin Spurs to fill out the roster.
Here's whom the Heat have available as of now, before adding another player or two from the Austin Spurs: Tyler Herro, Omer Yurtseven, Duncan Robinson, Caleb Martin, Marcus Garrett, Okpala, Kyle Guy (recently signed from G League) and Holman.
San Antonio surely wants to play the game as the Spurs are rested, in very good shape health-wise and should certainly win. The Spurs' only key player out is guard Dejounte Murray in protocols. Big loss, though, as he's averaging 17.8 points, 8.8 assists and 8.4 rebounds.
Wednesday is (maybe) the first meeting of the season between the teams. Miami is 5-28 all-time at San Antonio in regular-season games.
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