Adebayo, Nunn complete first Disney practice with Heat — not ruled out for Saturday scrimmage
The wait is over.
On Friday evening, center Bam Adebayo and guard Kendrick Nunn joined the Miami Heat on the practice court set up inside a hotel ballroom at Walt Disney World in Lake Buena Vista. It marked the duo’s first formal team practice since the season was suspended on March 11 amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
After just one team practice in a four-month span, coach Erik Spoelstra said he’s “open” to playing Adebayo and Nunn in the Heat’s Saturday scrimmage against the Utah Jazz (4 p.m., Fox Sports Sun tape delay) at HP Field House in Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex. But their minutes would be limited, as expected.
“If they do [play Saturday], it’s just to get their feet wet,” Spoelstra said on a video conference call with reporters following Friday’s practice.
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Adebayo, 23, and Nunn, 24, arrived at Disney on Tuesday evening — two weeks later than the rest of their teammates. Nunn confirmed Friday that both were away because of a COVID-19 diagnosis.
Nunn said he experienced “mild symptoms” that resembled “the common cold” and Adebayo said he remained asymptomatic.
“Me and Bam, we kept in contact often because we were basically on the same routine and just trying to get over COVID and have negative tests,” Nunn said after Friday’s practice. “We were kind of talking to each other, helping each other through the process and telling each other to stay positive. It worked out for us.”
After entering the Disney bubble on Tuesday, the two Heat starters were cleared Thursday afternoon to exit their hotel rooms and begin life on the NBA campus after returning two negative COVID-19 tests at least 24 hours apart to fulfill the required in-room quarantine period.
Once out of quarantine, Adebayo and Nunn took part in an on-court workout with a few coaches and teammates Thursday afternoon. But with the Heat off on Thursday, their first formal practice since March came Friday.
“They worked out yesterday, did a little bit of conditioning yesterday and then they worked intelligently today,” Spoelstra said Friday. “They had a couple subs on their team, so they didn’t have to go every single possession. But they want to be out there. They feel like they’ve been out long enough, so they basically ignored me and jumped on the court whenever they could.”
How did their first practice since March go?
“I definitely felt scared, just because I haven’t hooped in a long time,” Adebayo said. “So being out there the first time, it was kind of like right foot, left foot, kind of going through the motions, just getting your feet under you.”
Nunn said: “I feel pretty strong, to be honest. I haven’t had any major setbacks. My conditioning is pretty good and I feel ready to play.”
Even though Spoelstra did not rule out the possibility of playing Adebayo and Nunn in Saturday’s scrimmage, Adebayo said he didn’t expect to play in a game after just one practice.
“Personally, I would say I’m ready,” Adebayo said. “But that’s ‘cause I’m a freak of nature and I just want to play. That’s just the bottom line. But I got to take it one day at a time, so I don’t think I’m going to play tomorrow, just so I can get my legs under me. I haven’t really been moving around, beside just being in the house.”
If Adebayo and Nunn don’t play Saturday, they’ll still have an opportunity to play in the Heat’s third and final scrimmage Tuesday afternoon against the Memphis Grizzlies. They already missed Wednesday’s scrimmage opener against the Sacramento Kings because they were in the middle of their required quarantine period.
From their first team practice in more than four months Friday, Adebayo and Nunn have just one week to prepare for the start of the Heat’s eight-game seeding schedule. Miami opens seeding games with an Aug. 1 matchup against the Denver Nuggets, and Adebayo and Nunn are expected to be ready to play in that game.
The other 15 players on Miami’s roster are in their third week of team practices at Disney.
“As many game reps as I can get as possible to be game ready,” Nunn said when asked about the importance of playing in at least one of the Heat’s scrimmages before seeding games begin. “It’s different from practice. Those game reps are important. I think I definitely need that to be ready for when we get to our first game.”
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The Heat needs Adebayo and Nunn to catch up to their teammates quickly. Spoelstra noted this week that both players “were able to do bike workouts and stay fit” during their time away from the team, and they also took part in voluntary individual workouts at Miami’s AmericanAirlines Arena practice facility before the team left for Disney on July 8.
“They’re extremely fit. Their weight and body fats are optimal,” Spoelstra said. “They took care of what they needed to take care of and control what they could control. They couldn’t control the protocols and the fact that they couldn’t be here practicing, but they handled everything else. So I was encouraged. They’re young and they’re fit, and they put in a ton of time in May and June. I think that probably saved them more than anything.”
Adebayo is in the middle of a breakout season and has played in 151 consecutive regular-season games dating back to April 4, 2019 — the fourth-longest streak in franchise history. In his third NBA season and first as a full-time starter, Adebayo is averaging career highs in points (16.2), rebounds (10.5), assists (5.1), steals (1.2), blocks (1.3) and minutes (34.4) in 65 games (all starts) on his way to earning his first All-Star Game appearance.
Nunn has had a standout rookie season, averaging 15.6 points on 44.8 percent shooting, 2.7 rebounds and 3.4 assists in 62 games (all starts). Nunn, who went undrafted in 2018, has been named the Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month three times this season.
While Adebayo and Nunn still need time to get back into game shape, the good news for the Heat is all 17 of its players are now practicing in the NBA bubble preparing for the resumption of the season.
“It was great to have everybody out there in practice,” Spoelstra said. “You can imagine the level of spirit that the guys brought after 10 practices [at Disney], this being our 11th. It was just a perfect time for that kind of infusion of energy and spirit from those two guys.”
▪ The Indiana Pacers announced Friday that All-Star center Domantas Sabonis left the NBA’s Disney campus to receive treatment for plantar fasciitis in his left foot. There’s no timetable for his return.
If Sabonis can’t return before the end of the season, it would be a big loss for the Pacers. Indiana enters the restart in fifth place in the Eastern Conference, two games behind the fourth-place Heat and tied with the sixth-place Philadelphia 76ers.
