MIAMI (AP) \u2014 Rob Pimental is standing at his desk inside his office, getting through what\u2019ll be another 12-hour day. The Miami Heat director of team operations is staring at an oversized computer screen, typing away on a flight plan, a half-eaten bowl of salad to the left of his keyboard.<\/p>\n
An IV stand on wheels is set up behind him. On the floor, a clear bag holds dialysis fluid.<\/p>\n
\u201cHey, don\u2019t mind that,\u201d he says to a visitor, as he nods toward the tubing and bag at his feet.<\/p>\n
This has been Pimental\u2019s reality for nearly a year now. He\u2019s been a Type 1 diabetic for about 30 years, and last spring his health took a serious turn \u2014 his kidneys began failing and, probably for a variety of reasons, his blood pressure was soaring. He\u2019s been on a transplant list for months, awaiting both a new kidney and pancreas.<\/p>\n
The call might come this week. It might come next year. Nobody knows.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve all just kind of wanted to rally around him,\u201d Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. \u201dWe support him as much as possible, but also we let him know, one, we love him, and two, we really appreciate everything that he does and that he\u2019s still able to do it, despite everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
April is National Donate Life Month, and it hits particularly close to home for the Heat. Alonzo Mourning, one of Miami\u2019s all-time great players, a Hall of Famer and the team\u2019s vice president for player programs, needed a life-saving kidney transplant in 2003. He\u2019s been an invaluable resource for Pimental throughout this process.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s a big thing, having Zo around me all the time,\u201d Pimental said. \u201cHe\u2019s been through this and just to have him come in and walk me through some steps I didn\u2019t understand and then just be there if I have a question, it means something. Sometimes he walks in and he\u2019s like, \u2018Man, you look good today. You good? You feeling good? You look good.\u2019 That means a lot, because he knows what I\u2019m going through.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pimental \u2014 one of the league\u2019s longest-tenured equipment managers \u2014 wasn\u2019t on the plane that carried the Heat to the play-in tournament on Monday. He hasn\u2019t been able to fly with the team this season, which is the biggest change to the way he\u2019s handled the job that he\u2019s had in Miami for 15 years.<\/p>\n
He gives himself dialysis twice a day and relies on the help of other Heat staffers and people he oversees probably more than ever before \u2014 along with constant comic relief from former Heat players Kyle Lowry and Kevin Love, who check in on Pimental all the time \u2014 but he\u2019s still finding a way to make it work.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s meant a lot because he\u2019s meant so much to us, as a mentor, as someone we look up to, as someone who has put so many years into this league,\u201d said locker room manager Marvin Ulysse, who reports directly to Pimental. \u201cI felt like it was our duty to get him through this journey. He\u2019s a big brother to us. We\u2019re like his human dialysis in a way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pimental hasn\u2019t missed a beat, even though he can\u2019t travel. When problems pop up, he handles them from home. He still works long days \u2014 but has also appreciated being around his wife and children more than he has in the past.<\/p>\n
That said, there are scary times. He often wakes up in the middle of the night and grabs at his phone, fearful that he\u2019s missed the call telling him that organs are awaiting him. The unknown is stressful. He\u2019s worried about what\u2019ll happen to his kids if something happens to him.<\/p>\n
Each day, he said, brings hope.<\/p>\n
\u201cDialysis is working, I\u2019m still here,\u201d Pimental said. \u201cJust like somebody said to me awhile back, you\u2019ve got to learn how to string as many good days together as you can so when that one bad day comes, you can handle it. And that, I think, is what we\u2019re doing right now. The Heat have been very, very supportive throughout this whole thing. But to be honest, the only motivation I need is my wife and my kids. To be here for them, that\u2019s the only motivation I ever needed.\u201d<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
AP NBA: https:\/\/apnews.com\/nba<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MIAMI (AP) \u2014 Rob Pimental is standing at his desk inside his office, getting through what\u2019ll be another…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24215,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[123,125,124],"class_list":["post-230202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=230202"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230202\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=230202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=230202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=230202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}