From ceremony to games vs. Durant and Edwards, Heat’s Spoelstra keeps reliving Team USA experience this week

Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra is always focused on the task at hand. But even Spoelstra has spent some time recently reminiscing about his Olympic experience from this past summer in Paris as an assistant coach for the Team USA men’s basketball team.

With Team USA winning the gold medal for the fifth straight Olympics, Spoelstra became the first Heat coach in franchise history to be part of a coaching staff that has led a national team to an Olympic gold medal. Team USA’s coaching staff for the Paris Games featured Golden State’s Steve Kerr as the head coach, and Los Angeles’ Tyronn Lue, Gonzaga’s Mark Few and Spoelstra as the assistant coaches.

“A couple days ago, I was looking through some of the pictures from the trip,” Spoelstra, 54, said recently. “It was such an intense, gratifying core memory. It was so much fun.”

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Those memories are hard to avoid, considering that Spoelstra seemingly runs into a different player from that Team USA roster every few games during the NBA season.

On Wednesday, Spoelstra coached against the Phoenix Suns’ dynamic duo of Devin Booker and Kevin Durant. Both Booker and Durant won gold with the national team this past summer.

When the Heat takes on the Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday night at Target Center, Spoelstra will coach against another player from this year’s Team USA Olympic roster in Anthony Edwards.

The Heat even held Medal Recognition Night during Monday’s home loss to the Sacramento Kings, honoring Bam Adebayo, Nikola Jovic and Spoelstra for their work at the Paris Olympics this past summer. Adebayo and Spoelstra won gold with Team USA, and Jovic took home the bronze with Serbia.

“It was an iconic team,” Spoelstra said Wednesday when asked about his Olympic experience with Team USA. “Those are life core memories. It was an incredible life experience. It was just a great basketball experience. You know, and the coaching staff, we got along really well. We’re on a text chain that we’re still texting today.

“So it was a blast. We had a great time and it was one of those things, it’s like lightning in a bottle, you just want to capture it forever.”

The Paris Games marked Spoelstra’s first Olympic experience, but his time with Team USA began a few years ago. Spoelstra served as the head coach of Team USA’s Select Team that helped the national team’s main roster prepare for the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.

“It’s always been a dream of mine to be part of USA Basketball and to be able to coach the Select Team in 2021 and to be an assistant coach,” Spoelstra said. “They can ask me to do anything, I’m in, forget about it. If I was asked to help out in the equipment room, I’m in.”

There has been speculation that Spoelstra could end up being among the top candidates to take over as Team USA’s head coach for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. But when asked about that possibility recently, Spoelstra said there have been “none of those discussions.”

“That was just an absolute core memory that I’ll take with me for the rest of my life,” Spoelstra continued. “It was a dream of mine to be part of USA Basketball in any fashion. I would have taken any position, and I’m just so grateful for that experience this summer.”

It’s a memory that Spoelstra can relive any time he coaches against a player who was on this year’s Team USA roster. It’s actually a memory that Spoelstra can relive pretty much every day since he has one of those gold-medal winning players on the Heat’s roster in Adebayo.

“It’s great that we had a moment that wasn’t in a Heat jersey,” Adebayo said. “Being able to fight for your country is something special and to do that with my coach is something that we’ll never forget. Every time I see him, we’ll be able to share that moment.”

G LEAGUE OPENER

The Heat’s G League affiliate, the Sioux Falls Skyforce, lost its season opener 121-118 in overtime on Saturday night to the Timberwolves’ G League affiliate, the Iowa Wolves.

Both of the Heat’s two-way contract players currently with the Skyforce — guard Josh Christopher and forward Keshad Johnson — started Saturday’s game.

Christopher finished the opener with 27 points on 10-of-22 shooting from the field, 5-of-16 shooting on threes and 1-of-2 shooting from the foul line, two rebounds, four assists, one steal, one block and seven turnovers.

Johnson closed the opener with 20 points on 8-of-13 shooting from the field, 2-of-5 shooting on threes and 1-of-2 shooting from the foul line, six rebounds, two assists, three steals and one block.

Guard Isaiah Stevens, who was a Heat summer league standout and spent the preseason with the Heat before being waived, finished Saturday’s opener with 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the field, 3-of-6 shooting on threes and 1-of-1 shooting from the foul line, two rebounds, nine assists and five turnovers.

Veteran NBA forward Nassir Little, who spent the preseason with the Heat before being waived, contributed nine points on 3-of-12 shooting from the field, 0-of-7 shooting on threes and 2-of-3 shooting from the foul line, eight rebounds, six assists and one steal for the Skyforce on Saturday.

INJURY REPORT

The Heat ruled out Jimmy Butler (right ankle sprain), Christopher (G League) and Johnson (G League) for Sunday’s matchup against the Timberwolves.

But Heat backup center Kevin Love is off the injury report and is expected to make his season debut in Minneapolis. Love missed the first five games of the season because of personal reasons and sat out the last three games as he worked his way back into game shape.

The Heat will also get second-year forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. back on Sunday. Jaquez, who has missed the last three games because of a stomach illness, is available for the Heat’s matchup against the Timberwolves due to “return to competition reconditioning.”

The Timberwolves are without Jaylen Clark (G League), Jesse Edwards (G League), Leonard Miller (G League), Daishen Nix (G League) against the Heat.