Heat's P.J. Tucker, Gabe Vincent, Zylan Cheatham enter COVID-19 protocols

P.J. Tucker, Gabe Vincent and Zylan Cheatham have entered the health and safety protocols, according to Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald (Twitter link). As Chiang notes, there are now six Heat players in the protocols, with Tucker, Vincent and Cheatham joining Kyle Lowry, Max Strus and Udonis Haslem.

Tucker had already missed the last four games due to a left leg injury, but Vincent and Cheatham were two of nine players active for Miami on Tuesday.

With six players now in the protocols and four others – Bam Adebayo, Dewayne Dedmon, Victor Oladipo and Markieff Morris – dealing with injuries, the Heat will need to make at least one roster move to ensure they meet the required minimum of eight players before their game on Wednesday in San Antonio.

The Heat are reportedly expected to add Kyle Guy on a 10-day contract, which will get them up to eight players as long as the other seven who were active on Tuesday are good to go on Wednesday. That’s not a given, though — as Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel tweets, Jimmy Butler (ankle) and KZ Okpala (wrist) are banged up and may not be available. For what it’s worth, Okpala is currently listed as questionable, while Butler isn’t on the team’s injury report.

Miami is eligible to complete up to four more hardship additions, but it’s unclear how many more signings the team will be able to complete before tip-off Wednesday night.