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The Miami Heat will be allowed to return to their practice facility when it opens next week on May 8, Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos A. Gimenez told FOX Radio host Andy Slater in an interview. The Mayor also said in this interview that he thinks fans could return to stands as early as June.
SLATER SCOOP: Miami Heat will be allowed to individually practice indoors when NBA gives ok, @MayorGimenez tells me.
— Andy Slater (@AndySlater) May 1, 2020
The Miami-Dade mayor also believes fans could return to stands as early as next month.
Full exclusive interview: https://t.co/dIw6jcohyT pic.twitter.com/yYbo9hYLNz
The NBA was expected to re-open practice facilities to teams this Friday. Instead, there was backlash from teams about opening up the facilities, including the Atlanta Hawks, who refused to allow players to get back to practice so soon. So with that, the League decided that teams could return to practice on May 8 if their city gives them the green light. Miami is giving the Heat the green light, though we don’t know for sure if the Heat will actually return to practice.
The idea of fans being in stands as early as next month seems like a stretch as well. Not sure what’s in the water in Miami right now. I know that the weather down there is nicer, but I don’t think that makes going out with the coronavirus pandemic still happening any safer. We’ll see if Pat Riley announces anything further regarding the Heat practicing. It will also be interesting to see if other teams allow for individual workouts or if teams hold off a little longer.