There has been chatter about the NBA possibly going back to an isolated bubble as teams have been ravaged with COVID-19.
Miami Heat icon Udonis Haslem, who was in the 2020 NBA bubble for numerous months, vehemently pushed back on the idea of re-entering such a space.
“It’s crazy. I can’t believe that we’re back here again,” Haslem said of virus cases skyrocketing within the league. “I knew the numbers were going to spike. But it’s kind of scary to see that we’re back here again. But reading everything that we’re not going to lock down and we’re going to stay in the season, that’s encouraging. But it’s scary.
“We’re not going to live our lives in a bubble, though. We got to move around, we got to engage. But we got to be safe, we got to try to enjoy our holidays. But there’s a responsibility and accountability out here right now to try to be safe. But I don’t know if there’s much you can do. The way it’s spreading like wild fire, I don’t know. Who knows? I might have already had it and didn’t even know it. It’s going around.”
The Heat benefited from being in the NBA bubble in Orlando, Fla. to conclude the 2019-20 campaign.
The team went all the way to the 2020 NBA Finals, where they lost to the Los Angeles Lakers in six games. Some called the Heat’s Cinderella run in the bubble a “fluke”.
However, Haslem has publicly denounced those who criticized the Heat for not being actual title contenders.
Now, the Heat are fighting to get back into contention. The team holds a 21-13 record and is the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference.
The 41-year-old is averaging 3.0 points and 2.1 rebounds per game this season.
