Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Heat reach out to Winslow in support after procedure
With forward out for season, claim made for cap exemption
LOS ANGELES — A day after the Miami Heat lost Justise Winslow to season-ending shoulder surgery, the team reached out to both the forward and the league office.
General Manager Andy Elisburg confirmed at the team’s morning shootaround at the Windward School that the Heat have applied to the NBA for a $1.3 million disabled-player salary-cap exception.
Coach Erik Spoelstra said the team offered a direct show of support in advance of Friday night’s game against the Los Angeles Laknow.” at Staples Center.
“He’s already recovering,” Spoelstra said. “We just Facetimed with him after the shootaround. So he’s already on the rebound right Actually, it will be an extended road back, with the surgery to reers
pair the torn labrum in Winslow’s right shoulder first requiring six weeks of rehabilitation before court work can resume.
Spoelstra said his initial advice to Winslow was, “just to be patient.”
“He’s a very mature young man,” Spoelstra said of the 20-year-old who was selected out of Duke with the No. 10 pick in the 2015 NBA draft. “So he understands the big picture.
“It doesn’t make it any less painful being out for the rest of the season. Guys want to be out there and play, and he’s put in a lot of time during the offseason to prepare for this year.”
Winslow was injured on the final play of last Friday’s loss to the Boston Celtics at TD Garden in a tangle with Celtics center Al Horford and had not played since.
“There’s a lot of things in this game that you can’t control,” Spoelstra said. “You can control your mindset and your approach with the hand you’ve been dealt from here on out.”
Dr. Harlan Selesnick, who performed the surgery Thursday at Miami Orthopedics & Sports Medicine Institute at Doctors Hospital, arrived in Los Angeles to present the team with the medical report, with Heat President Pat Riley and Elisburg among those with the team.
“So right now,” Spoelstra said, “it’s just about recovery for the next six weeks, just rest. And then, at that point, we’ll be start the process of building his body back up.”
A day after the Heat announced that Winslow “is expected to miss the remainder of the season,” they confirmed that reality Friday by applying to the league for the salary-cap exception that only is granted if a player is deemed by an NBA physician to be sidelined for the balance of the season.
“We’re in the process of making the request,” Elisburg said.
The exception can be utilized on a free agent for a salary of up to $1.3 million for the balance of the season, or acquiring a player in the final year of a contract valued at $1.3 million or less, either through a trade or a waiver claim. The exception expires March 10. The exception cannot be aggregated with any other exception or salaries, meaning it cannot be used to acquire a player earning in excess of $1.3 million.
“It doesn’t give you anything with a roster spot, it just gives you a salary slot for half the contract for the player you get the exception for, on a one-year contract,” Elisburg said. “You can either use it for a trade or free agency. But if it is a trade, a player has to be in the last year of his contract. If it’s free agency, then you have to be able to sign a player to a one-year contract.”
The Heat are expected to bank the exception for potential future use, currently lacking an available roster spot, with the league maximum of 15 players under contract. A roster spot could open in advance of March 10 if the Heat move for salary-cap relief from Chris Bosh’s contract, with the forward sidelined since failing his preseason physical, after missing the second half of the past two seasons due to blood clots.
Elisburg said the team cannot apply for a similar exception for sidelined Josh McRoberts, with it unsure whether the forward will be sidelined for the balance of the season with the stress fracture in his left foot that has him out indefinitely.
“You have to be out for the rest of the season,” he said. “The only way you can apply is if the NBA determines that the player will miss through June 15.”