You could see the smile behind Bam Adebayo’s mask when he was asked about seeing his teammates again. The same teammates who had posed with an oversized picture of him on his birthday while he was quarantined with COVID-19.
"It just shows that it's bigger than basketball with this group," he said. "I'm thankful to have teammates like that."
Adebayo and Kendrick Nunn ran through their first full practice in the NBA bubble with their teammates on Friday night. Erik Spoelstra wanted them to take it easy. And they did. Sometimes.
"They basically ignored me and jumped on the court whenever they could," Spoelstra said. "It was the perfect time for that kind of infusion of energy and spirit from those two guys."
Adebayo said his time away from the team was "boring" while Nunn said he felt cold-like symptoms. Both players agree that it was great to be back with their teammates.
“It feels great just to be around my team and my brothers,” Nunn said.