It has been a tough past 24 hours for Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra. On Tuesday night, his team suffered a deflating 131-124 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks. Not only did the Heat lose on their own home floor, but the defeat also saw them get eliminated from the NBA’s inaugural In-Season Tournament.
As it turns out, that was merely the tip of Spoelstra’s troubles.
Not long after the Heat suffered their third straight loss, Spoelstra came out with a stunning announcement that not too many saw coming.
As it turns out, he has been going through some marital problems at home. It has gotten to a point wherein his differences with his wife, Nikki Spoelstra, have become irreconcilable. The couple made a joint announcement on Wednesday that they had finalized their divorce:
“We have made the difficult yet amicable decision to jointly file to formally end our marriage,” Erik and Nikki wrote in a joint statement issued to the Miami Herald. “We are both grateful for our relationship and remain fully committed to co-parenting our children and continuing to make them our shared priority. We appreciate everyone’s support as we move to the next stage of our lives and thank you for respecting our family’s privacy.”
We don’t have much insight into Spoelstra’s domestic problems, but it’s always a sad day whenever a couple announces their divorce. This is especially true for a pair like Erik and Nikki, who have been married for seven years. They share three children: Santiago (5), Dante (3), and Ruby (1).
Nikki is a former Heat dancer who now has a popular podcast of her own. The couple met during Nikki’s time with the team, and the rest, as they say, is history.
The joint announcement seems to indicate that their split is somewhat amicable — or at least as civil as a divorce can get. Let’s just hope that this doesn’t turn into one of those nasty battles between two bitter parties.
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