Heat won’t be represented during All-Star Sunday. And a ticket update for upcoming games

After representing the Eastern Conference in the NBA Finals last season, the Miami Heat won’t be represented during NBA All-Star Sunday this season.

The Heat did not have a player voted into Sunday’s All-Star Game, and there are no Heat participants in this year’s Skills Challenge, Three-Point Contest or Slam Dunk Contest. The Skills Challenge, Three-Point Contest and Slam Dunk Contest participants were announced Tuesday night on TNT.

Unless a Heat player is named as an injury replacement in the coming days, it will end up without a player participating in an All-Star event this year for just the second time since 2000. The only other time during this span that Miami was completely shut out of All-Star festivities was in 2017.

Scheduled to take part in the Skills Challenge are Dallas’ Luka Doncic, Phoenix’s Chris Paul, Orlando’s Nikola Vucevic, Indiana’s Domantas Sabonis, New York’s Julius Randle and Portland’s Robert Covington.

The Three-Point Contest will include Phoenix’s Devin Booker, Boston’s Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum, Golden State’s Stephen Curry, Chicago’s Zach LaVine and Utah’s Donovan Mitchell.

And the Slam Dunk Contest will feature Portland’s Anfernee Simons, Indiana’s Cassius Stanley and New York’s Obi Toppin.

Jimmy Butler again out for Miami Heat on Tuesday vs. Atlanta Hawks

The Heat was very busy during All-Star Weekend last season, when Heat center Bam Adebayo won the Skills Challenge, Heat forward Duncan Robinson participated in the Three-Point Contest and former Heat forward Derrick Jones Jr. won the Slam Dunk Contest. Miami also had Adebayo and Jimmy Butler participate in the All-Star Game, and Tyler Herro and Kendrick Nunn named to the Rising Stars Game last year.

Adebayo and Butler were again the Heat’s top two candidates to make the All-Star Game this season, but they didn’t make the cut in part because of the team’s losing record while votes were being collected in recent weeks.

Adebayo was expected to be invited to the Skills Challenge as last season’s champion, but he was unsure last week if he would accept an invitation to participate in the event after not being voted into the All-Star Game.

“I feel like Heat Nation would want me to be 2-0,” Adebayo said last week. “But it’s up in the air. It’s up in the air. I got time [to decide].”

There was also the possibility of Robinson again being invited to take part in the Three-Point Contest. Robinson, who entered Tuesday tied for the eighth-most made threes in the NBA this season at 112, said last week that he would likely accept an invite to compete in the shooting contest.

“If I’m invited, I’d probably take the opportunity,” Robinson said. “I’d have to wait and see. I don’t really know. To be honest with you, I haven’t heard anything on what that’s looking like. So we’ll see, I guess.”

And Jones, who signed with the Portland Trail Blazers as a free agent this past offseason, decided not to defend his dunk championship this year, according to Trail Blazers team reporter Casey Holdahl.

The 2021 All-Star Game will be held on Sunday at 8 p.m. at State Farm Arena in Atlanta during the season’s midseason break, which is scheduled for March 5-10 amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The NBA and NBPA agreed to condense this season’s All-Star Weekend to one night, and established additional measures to supplement the league’s current health and safety protocols in order to hold the showcase event in the middle of a pandemic. The Skills Challenge and Three-Point Contest will be held pregame at 6:30 p.m., and the Slam Dunk Contest will take place at halftime of the All-Star Game.

The Rising Stars Game will not be played this season because of the condensed structure of All-Star events, but the NBA will still announce Rising Stars rosters on Wednesday. Among Heat players eligible to be named are Herro, Nunn and rookie center Precious Achiuwa.

Rising Stars rosters will include 10 first- and second-year NBA players from the United States (U.S. Team) and 10 first- and second-year NBA players from outside the United States (World Team). The 20 players will be selected in a vote by NBA assistant coaches.

UPDATE ON HEAT TICKETS

Tickets for the Heat’s next six home games, all after the upcoming All-Star break, will go on sale to the general public on Saturday starting at noon on Heat.com, the team announced Tuesday.

The Heat’s next six home games come on March 11 against the Orlando Magic, March 16 against the Cleveland Cavaliers, March 19 against the Indiana Pacers, March 21 against the Pacers, March 23 against the Phoenix Suns and March 25 against the Portland Trail Blazers.

Tickets for the upcoming stretch of Heat home games are being sold to season-ticket holders first as part of a pre-sale.

The AmericanAirlines Arena capacity, which was recently increased to about 3,000 fans, will remain the same for games in March and seating will remain physically distanced. But an expanded menu of food and beverages will be offered.

For more information on what to expect while attending Heat games at AmericanAirlines Arena this season, visit Heat.com/FanSafety.