Season comes early?
Lure of Christmas cash may bring rapid restart
Are the Miami Heat ready to jump back into the fray mere weeks after falling in the NBA Finals? Not quite.
But, center Meyers Leonard said, the players also understand why it might be necessary, with the league to open its regular season as soon as Dec. 22.
“I’m going to do what I’m asked. I’m blessed to do what I do,” Leonard said before heading to his offseason training base in Los Angeles. “I’ll go to L.A. I’ll train as hardas I possibly can for whatever period of time it is. Then I’ll report.”
But for heavy-usage Heat players such as Jimmy Butler, going from an Oct. 11 Game 6 of the NBA Finals to a Dec. 1 start of training camp could be extreme.
“I would say, not knowing, not having conversation with the guys, for example, like Jimmy, a lot of minutes, a lot of wear and tear, whatever you want to call it, I would think that would be a possibility like, ‘Damn, I’d like some more time,’ ” Leonard said, going on to mention Heat center Bam Adebayo and Los Angeles Lakers champion forwards LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
“Other guys, maybe such as LeBron, A.D., even guys like Bam, even though he’s young, these are high-usage guys. Guys not only need the physical time to get away and relax and recover, but it’s also the mental piece.”
The NBA completed its season in a quarantine bubble at Disney World, with the Heat in that setting from July 8 until Oct. 12. Thewould leave a mere sixweeks to reacclimate before it’s back to the court.
“People don’t quite understand the mental aspect of the bubble, specifically for guys that didn’t have anyone come,” Leonard said. “For example, my wife came, and things got a whole lot easier for me. But, prior to that, I dealt with my [ankle] injury, not being in the rotation, standing for the anthem. Like for me, personally, I needed this.”
ESPN has reported that the difference between starting prior to Christmas Day or waiting until mid-January and Martin Luther King Jr. Day could be a $500 million difference in revenue.
As an impending free agent, Leonard accepts the financial side of the equation.
“I think the league does have the players’ best interest at heart,” he said. “But, the rational side of the mind, and the business part of the NBA is, well, there also are TV deals. And, youknow, there are other things going on. And it comes down to money. And how many games do we trim the schedule?
What’s really going to happen? Are there going to be fans in the stands? Are there not?
“So, that component of it is interesting, and that’s why there are people in the positions that they’re in tomake those decisions. But it’ll be interesting.”
In the wake of the Heat’s deep playoff run and extended isolation, Leonard said he is in favor of awaiting game.
“Again, I’m going to do what I’m asked to do,” he said. “But Iwould say that if youwere to take a poll, it would be heavily favored that NBA players would be ML K Day versus a Christmas start. That would be what I think NBA players would say .”
Leonard’s ankle
Leonard acknowledged he never got back to himself, even in the Disney bubble, after a severe ankle sprain in February.
“Now, I’m fully, fully healthy,” he said. “I thought going into the bubble that Iwas, I don’t know, call it 80, 85 percent. Like, ‘All right, fine, I helped this team win and I played well. I must be OK.’ That’s so far from the truth. And I hate that that was my reality.
“But obviously I did my best to be a great teammate in the bubble. I felt as though when I got minutes in the Finals, I played well, considering the circumstances.”