Pat Riley, two players stay back as Miami Heat departs Wednesday for NBA Disney bubble

Miami Heat president Pat Riley, the architect of the franchise’s roster for the past quarter century, did not travel with the team Wednesday to Central Florida for the resumption of the season amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Heat and Riley did not offer a reason, but Riley — at age 75 — is part of a demographic that is considered particularly vulnerable to COVID-19.

Heat assistant general manager Adam Simon instead traveled with the team, and general manager Andy Elisburg will remain in South Florida to prepare for free agency and the draft.

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Forward Derrick Jones Jr., who has recovered from COVID-19, was with the Heat when the team left AmericanAirlines Arena around 4 p.m. Wednesday on buses heading to Disney’s ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Lake Buena Vista, where the NBA season will resume on July 30.

In order to be cleared to travel with the team, Jones needed to satisfy the league’s criteria for discontinuation of isolation: Report no symptoms, return at least two consecutive negative COVID-19 tests more than 24 hours apart and then receive medical clearance.

The two other Heat players who tested positive for COVID-19 last week did not travel Wednesday, but they are expected to join the team at a later date. The Miami Herald is not identifying the other two players because they have not authorized their names to be released.

Fifteen players from the Heat’s 17-man roster traveled with the team Wednesday.

Teams last week were required to submit the list of 37 people who will be part of their traveling parties for the NBA restart. There’s a possibility the traveling party can be modified following the first round of the playoffs.

Each of the 22 teams participating in the restart are initially allowed to bring up to 37 people (35 as part of the basketball operations group, one member of the team’s media relations staff and one member of the team’s social media staff) to reside in the bubble, with player guests not allowed inside until late August following the first round of the playoffs.

Each team is required to have one senior basketball executive on site. With Riley not traveling, the Heat chose Simon to fill that on-site role.

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The Heat’s 37-member traveling party, besides the full 17-player roster, also includes six coaches: head coach Erik Spoelstra and assistants Dan Craig, Malik Allen and Chris Quinn; player development coach Anthony Carter and shooting coach Rob Fodor. Heat assistant coach Octavio De La Grana is not among those traveling.

Once the two other players rejoin the team, that brings the total — including Simon — to 24.

Teams are also required to include in its traveling party at least one athletic trainer, one strength and conditioning coach, one equipment manager and one security staff member, according to the NBA’s 113-page health and safety manual sent to teams.

With those requirements in mind, the other 13 Heat employees accompanying the team to the Disney site are: head athletic trainer Jay Sabol, assistant athletic trainer/director of rehabilitation Brandon Gilliam, assistant athletic trainers Wes Brown and Armando Rivas, neuromuscular therapist Vinny Aquilino, head strength and conditioning coach Eric Foran, video coordinators Eric Glass and Dan Bisaccio, head equipment manager/travel coordinator Rob Pimental, vice president of team security David Holcombe, director of basketball administration Scott Gurka, alongside vice president of sports media relations Tim Donovan and manager of digital content production Terek Pierce, who is part of the Heat’s social media staff.

At least one Heat staff member who is included in the traveling party did not travel with the team Wednesday due to personal reasons, according to a league source. They will make the trip to Disney on their own and enter the NBA bubble at a later date.

Some of the Heat employees who usually travel but are not going to be with the team at Disney because of the limitation put on the size of the traveling party will be working remotely.

NBA owners, such as the Heat’s Micky Arison, and team executives, such as Riley and Elisburg, who are not residing in the Disney bubble are permitted to attend games. But they must use separate entrances and exits in the arenas while remaining socially-distanced at least 25 feet from the court/players and coaches in the traveling party and wearing a mask at all times.

Heat television play-by-play announcer Eric Reid, television color analyst John Crotty, radio play-by-play announcer Mike Inglis, television studio and radio analyst Ruth Riley Hunter, television studio analyst and radio analyst Ron Rothstein, television host and courtside reporter Jason Jackson and Spanish radio announcer Jose Paneda are not included in the Heat’s traveling party and are expected to announce games from AmericanAirlines Arena.

Heat players and staff were scheduled to arrive at the Disney complex on Wednesday night, and upon arrival will quarantine in their individual hotel rooms at the Gran Destino Tower at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort until they return two negative COVID-19 tests at least 24 hours apart. Miami is then tentatively scheduled to begin training camp Friday afternoon — the Heat’s first team practice since the season was suspended on March 11 — and is also tentatively scheduled to practice Saturday morning in advance of the team’s Aug. 1 re-opener against the Denver Nuggets (1 p.m., ESPN, Fox Sports Sun).