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Should this bid be alerted?

A pro is playing with his novice partner as he usually does every week for the past year.  The pro holds 4=3=3=3 distribution with 14 HCPs and opens 1.  His partner bids 2, alerted as inverted minors.  The pro bids 2NT and his partner bids 3.  The pro does not alert this bid and after the pro bids 3NT and the auction is over, he does not explain what his partner's 3 bid is.

Because of this and because his RHO doesn't ask about the 3 bid after it is made, the pro has an inference that RHO does not have Axxxx of spades or better (RHO would make a lead-directing double after asking and being told that it shows spade shortness) and that knowledge affects the play.

I'm being told that, since the pro didn't know what his partner's 3 bid was (even though the inverted minor convention typically denies four of a major) he didn't need to alert it.

Do you agree?

The pro MUST alert 3 as not showing spades, as part of the inverted minor convention.
The pro didn't need to alert 3, but he MUST explain that his partner's bid did not mean spades after the auction.
The pro didn't need to offer any alert or explanation, but it would have been appropriate for him to do so.
If I were the pro, I would not have offered an alert or explanation.


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