Dwyane Wade will miss a fourth consecutive game to rest his knees when the Miami Heat play the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday night at American Airlines Arena.
The Heat made the morning announcement on Twitter:
Dwyane Wade (rest) will not play in tonight's #HEATgame vs the Lakers.
— Miami HEAT (@MiamiHEAT) January 23, 2014
Coach Erik Spoelstra spoke about Wade's absence after the team's morning shootaround. He said "Heat nation does not need to be panicked."
The perennial All-Star guard, who has been sitting to protect his knees, missed the final two games of the recent six-game road string and continued for Tuesday night's home win against Boston.
"The schedule is not an excuse," Spoelstra told the media. "It just was a little bit of a bizarre schedule. We were on the road and we had no time with our equipment ... It was just an extended period of time we weren't able to get into the routine."
The Heat are 6-6 without Wade this season. Spoelstra said the guard's status for Sunday afternoon's home game against San Antonio was unknown.
You can follow Charlie McCarthy on Twitter @mccarthy_chas or email him at mac1763@bellsouth.net.
