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Bahamas Rumors
Kyle Lowry organized team trip to the Bahamas before playoffs
Two logical candidates were Jimmy Butler and Udonis Haslem. When approached on the subject, each made it clear they did not organize the trip. They also declined to name the organizer. A few days later, a league source with a connection to the Heat caught wind of the inquiries and reached out to Yahoo Sports: “It was Kyle Lowry.”
Yahoo Sports approached Spoelstra with this new information and he confirmed it. “Kyle met with me and told me what he wanted to do with the team. He had all the logistics figured out and I gave him my blessings,” Spoelstra told Yahoo Sports. “There are only about a handful of players like Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, Udonis Haslem who’ve played for this franchise that I know could have pulled off something like this. It shows you how special Kyle is and how much we really respect him as a person and a player.”
At the end of the regular season for the Miami Heat, before knowing their first-round playoff opponent, a majority of the players took a surprise trip to the Bahamas for a few days. This was not a trip orchestrated by the Heat. Most teams would rather their players stay locked in the gym and in film sessions as they prepare to embark on the most important juncture of the season. Players raved about the trip, saying it was a welcomed excursion that provided a nice mental break and a bonding period beyond the ordinary.
NBA teams who don’t make the playoffs get to go on vacation this week. Some Heat players had a chance to experience the best of both worlds this week: a playoff appearance and a mini-vacation. According to a source, a “bunch of players” on the Heat – more than half the team – decided to take a bonding trip to the Bahamas this week. The organization (meaning ownership and management) did not arrange the trip and did not pay for it.
The new deal, negotiated by Innovate Sports Group, is expected to place Ayton among the league’s top-3 highest paid athletic brand endorsers at the center position. While Puma has been finding its footing in the hoop space after a nearly two-decade hiatus from landing any NBA endorsers, Ayton has long had an affinity and familiarity with the company. “Growing up in the Bahamas, the first brand really that I wore was Puma. That’s all we saw was Puma,” he said. “A guy like Usain Bolt, who I looked up to as a star of the Caribbean and the face of the Caribbean when it comes to sports, that’s the only thing that he was reppin’. Puma was everywhere.”
Far away from home in Phoenix, it’s that Bahamian mindset that has helped Deandre Ayton have peace with his unrewarded contract situation with the Suns. “I’m not really worried about things like that and having all the stuff mixed in my head,” Ayton told The Undefeated recently. “I’m just putting my head down and working. Me? I’m from the Islands. We work for what we want. It is well-deserving with how I am playing right now. I’m going to bust my tail and get something I deserve.”
