Spoelstra back after son’s birth
MIAMI — The latest addition to Erik Spoelstra’s roster is Santiago Ray Spoelstra.
The Miami Heat announced Sunday that coach Erik Spoelstra and wife Nikki, a former Heat dancer, were parents of a healthy son, at 6 pounds, 8 ounces, 19 inches. Tuesday, back on the job, Spoelstra revealed his son’s name.
“Life-changing, obviously,” he said. “Mom is great. Baby is great. Santiago Ray Spoelstra. It’s been a blessing the last couple of days.”
He then spoke of his weekend whirlwind, including the phone call he received Saturday about his wife’s water having broken, while he was preparing for practice in Indiana.
“As naive as I was,” he said, “I made the comment to our doctor and Nikki on speakerphone. I said, ‘OK, is this a fire drill?’ And that’s when I proceeded to get screamed at.”
Nikki’s due date had been three weeks later. It left Spoelstra without arguably the most important game plan of his life.” I didn’t even have my bag packed for the hospital, which my wife and I went through that drill many times, that I was going to have my bag packed and ready,” he said before Tuesday night’s game against the Cleveland Cavaliers at AmericanAirlines Arena. “I figured I had another at least two more weeks to do that.
“But, I went through that process in my mind, ‘OK what if this is during the playoffs? What if it’s right before the playoffs? What if we’re on the road? What if we’re at home? What are we going to do?’ I just wanted to make sure I was going to be there for it.”
A conversation with Heat General Manager Andy Elisburg followed, with Spoelstra, 47, able to make it back in ample time, with assistant coach Dan Craig coaching the team during Sunday’s overtime loss to the Indiana Pacers at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.
“I got off the bus and the only thing I got to do was talk to Andy and see what kind of arrangements we made,” Spoelstra said. “When I told the team, they were thrilled.”
Erik Spoelstra and the former Nikki Sapp married on July 22, 2016. It is the first child for both.