Heat to begin trip without Butler, Bradley, Leonard. Herro questionable for Wednesday game

The Miami Heat will begin its four-game trip without Jimmy Butler, Avery Bradley and Meyers Leonard.

Butler and Bradley have been ruled out for Wednesday’s game against the Toronto Raptors in Tampa at Amalie Arena because of NBA’s COVID-19 health and safety protocols. It will mark the fifth consecutive game both players have missed because of protocols, as their last game action came in Miami’s Jan. 9 road win against the Washington Wizards.

Leonard (left shoulder strain) will also miss his fifth consecutive game Wednesday.

Butler, Bradley and Leonard did not travel with the Heat to Tampa for the contest. It’s unclear whether they will join the team at any point during the trip, which ends Monday.

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There is a chance that Miami could get starting guard Tyler Herro back for Wednesday’s game, though. Herro is questionable for the contest after missing the past two games with neck spasms, and coach Erik Spoelstra said Monday that Herro was “making good progress” and “getting close.”

Herro, 20, has averaged 17.6 points on 46.9 percent shooting, 6.7 rebounds and 3.8 assists in 10 games this season.

Heat guards Goran Dragic (right foot contusion) and Gabe Vincent (right knee soreness) are probable to play in Wednesday’s game.

If Herro, Dragic and Vincent are able to play against the Raptors, the Heat would be on track to have up to 14 available players for Wednesday’s game: Precious Achiuwa, Bam Adebayo, Dragic, Moe Harkless, Udonis Haslem, Herro, Andre Iguodala, Kendrick Nunn, KZ Okpala, Kelly Olynyk, Duncan Robinson, Chris Silva, Max Strus and Vincent.

That’s a big improvement from last week, when Miami was forced to play two games with the NBA minimum of eight available players because of COVID-19 issues. Six of the eight Heat players who missed those two games because of the league’s health and safety protocols returned Saturday: Adebayo, Dragic, Harkless, Haslem, Nunn and Okpala.

Players who are held out because of COVID-19 contact tracing are sidelined for seven days in most cases, and players who test positive for the virus usually have to miss at least about two weeks.

Following Wednesday’s game, the Heat again takes on the Raptors in Tampa on Friday before the trip comes to an end with two straight games against the Brooklyn Nets on Saturday and Monday.

DUNCAN VS. WAYNE

Wayne Ellington had the Heat’s record for threes made in a season before Robinson shattered it with 270 threes during last season’s pandemic-shortened 73-game schedule.

In Monday’s game between the Heat and Detroit Pistons, Ellington and Robinson matched up against each other and both excelled.

Ellington, who spent two-plus seasons with the Heat before he was traded in February 2019, scored 24 points on 7-of-11 shooting from three-point range for the Pistons.

Robinson, who spent part of his rookie season as Ellington’s teammate with the Heat, finished with 18 points on 6-of-9 shooting on threes for Miami.

“He’s lethal, man,” Ellington said of Robinson. “You have to stay with him all night long and you can’t give him any air space. When you do, he makes you pay for it. He’s one of the best shooters in the game and it shows. He’s very dangerous.”

Robinson said Tuesday of matching up against Ellington: “It’s a little bit of a taste of my own medicine, I guess. Or I really should say it’s Wayne’s medicine. I’ve learned so much from him. Wayne’s the best. To this day, we still stay in touch and keep up. He obviously has all those same tricks that I do. So you think maybe because I know what he might be doing that I might be able to defend him, but it’s still really hard to get to.”