Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra and Nikki Sapp have filed for divorce, the end of a seven-year marriage.
Sapp, 36, worked for the Heat as a dancer from 2005 to 2008 while also getting her art history degree at Florida International University.
She shared on social media some of the struggles she has faced in recent years to show why she is still grateful for each day.
Today is a great day to have a great day.
1. I’m alive.
2. I’m still sober (1321 days, one day at a time)
3. I’m healthy and thank Gd, so are my kids.
4. I get to do a job that I love and that I believe helps people.
5. I know who I am.— Nikki Spoelstra (@NikkiSpo) November 30, 2023
Sapp went into further details, sharing that she hit rock bottom with an alcohol addiction in 2020. Since then, she has gotten sober and created a successful podcast called “The Know with Nikki Spo.”
Sapp has also gone through the loss of her mother and one of her children being diagnosed with cancer. Sapp and Spoelstra have three children together: five-year-old Santiago, three-year-old Dante and one-year-old Ruby.
2020: hit personal rock bottom, got help for alcohol addiction. Been sober since. Started rediscovering myself.
2021: started podcast 2 help people.
2022. Planned for+got pregnant🙏🏻 1 wk later my mom died. 1 mo later, my son diagnosed w/ cancer.
Today, I choose joy + gratitude.— Nikki Spoelstra (@NikkiSpo) November 30, 2023
Spoelstra and Sapp shared a joint statement with the Miami Herald discussing their decision to end their marriage.
“We have made the difficult yet amicable decision to jointly file to formally end our marriage,” they wrote. “We are both grateful for our relationship and remain fully committed to co-parenting our children and continuing to make them our shared priority. We appreciate everyone’s support as we move to the next stage of our lives and thank you for respecting our family’s privacy.”
It’s great to see that the two are committed to co-parenting their children and looking to make the most of the next stages of their lives. For Sapp, hopefully she can continue to get through many of the tough times that she has dealt with over the last few years.
Spoelstra, 53, is in his 16th season as Miami’s head coach. He’s become one of the best in the business at the position, leading the Heat to the NBA Finals six times in his coaching career.
The Heat have won two titles under Spoelstra, and they made the playoffs in 12 of the first 15 seasons of his head coaching career. The Heat and Spoelstra are looking to add to that total in the 2023-24 season.
Spoelstra has compiled a career regular season record of 715-499 as a head coach, and he’s gone 109-75 in the playoffs. After making the NBA Finals last season, he’s hoping to lead the Heat back to the Finals to finish the job and come away with his third title as a head coach.
Hopefully, both Spoelstra and Sapp will find what they are looking for following their decision to divorce.
