Advertisement

Heat place literally every player on injury report after receiving NBA fine ahead of Mexico City game

The Miami Heat are either the most injured team in the NBA or threw a very public dig at the league.

The team's Friday began with the NBA fining it $25,000 for "failing to disclose an accurate game availability status for several players" before its win over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday.

For those who don't speak league office, the NBA was punishing the Heat for sitting star Jimmy Butler, among others, for what the team called "knee maintenance." Despite missing Butler, the Heat defeated the Thunder, but couldn't avoid the fine.

Hour after the fine was announced, the Heat released a curious injury report. Every single one of the 16 players on the Heat's active roster were listed as injured, with varying degrees of availability for Saturday's game against the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday. Three players are listed as out, but only two of them are due to injury.

Here's the full report:

It's worth noting that the Heat's injury report was already pretty full — the same report a day earlier had 12 players out, but the team decided to add Cain, Haslem, Highsmith and Orlando Robinson soon after the fine.

Granted, Miami could really be dealing with a "Homer at the Bat"-style series of maladies, but the more likely explanation is the team is throwing shade at the NBA by disclosing game availability for all of its players after it was fined for not doing so.

We'll obviously see just how injured the Heat are when they take the floor in Mexico City, a game of significant importance to the NBA and its attempts to grow the game internationally.

Miami Heat forward Jimmy Butler (22) points as he sits on the bench during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Washington Wizards, Monday, Dec. 30, 2019, in Washington. The Wizards won 123-105. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)
The NBA wasn't happy with the Heat after Jimmy Butler missed a game on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)