Butler questionable, Dragic out vs. Kings
There was a positive trend for the Miami Heat on the team’s 5 p.m. Friday injury report, with Jimmy Butler again elevated to questionable for Saturday night’s home game against the Sacramento Kings, after previously being assigned that status Thursday afternoon only to miss that night’s loss to the Los Angeles Clippers.
Butler has missed the past 10 games in the NBA’s pandemic protocol.
But there also remained a significant downside, with Goran Dragic already confirmed as out for Saturday night, the third consecutive game he will miss due to strained left groin.
In all, 10 of the 17 players on the Heat roster are listed on the injury report for the third game of the Heat’s six-game homestand at AmericanAirlines Arena.
In addition to Dragic, already listed as out for Saturday night are Moe Harkless, Meyers Leonard and Chris Silva.
Harkless has missed the past three games with a thigh bruise. Leonard has
missed the past 10 games with a shoulder strain. Silva has missed the last five consecutive games with a strained left hip flexor.
As has been typical this season, there also are plenty of question marks.
Listed as questionable despite his Thursday return from a seven-game absence is guard Tyler Herro, who has been dealing with neck spasms.
Also questionable due to neck spasms is forward Andre Iguodala, who missed Thursday’s game with that discomfort.
Questionable, as well, is guard Avery Bradley, due to the knee contusion that had him out Thursday. Bradley had returned a night earlier
in the loss to the Denver Nuggets from an eight-game absence while dealing with COVID-19.
Added to the injury report Friday was veteran Udonis Haslem, who is listed as questionable due to personal reasons. Haslem has yet to play this season.
Listed as probable is guard Gabe Vincent has been on the injury report this week due to a sprained right ankle, but has played through the discomfort.
The only players not on the injury report are Precious Achiuwa, Bam Adebayo, Kendrick Nunn, KZ Okpala, Kelly Olynyk, Max Strus and Duncan Robinson.
The Heat have not practiced since Jan 21 in Tampa between road games against the Toronto Raptors. Their next practice likely will not be until Sunday, with no game-day shootaround scheduled ahead of Saturday’s game.
“There are a lot of moving parts,” coach Erik Spoelstra said, with the Heat on a fivegame losing streak. “That makes it unique. You can’t make an excuse for it. You have to continue to grind, to learn and compete for each other. We just need to be more consistent with it.”
The Heat have found themselves buying time with two-way players Vincent and Strus.
“We have great confidence in those guys,” Spoelstra said. “They put in so much time behind the scenes and they are prepared and ready to produce. We don’t even hesitate. We don’t look at whether they are two-way or the full-guarantee contract. We feel they are plug-and-play guys.”
The Kings are without DaQuan Jeffries due to an ankle sprain, and Jahmi’us Ramsey with a groin strain, with Nemanja Bjelica doubtful due to back spasms.