The Miami Heat received their latest dose of bad injury news with Jimmy Butler and Nikola Jovic added to the injury report for their game against the Detroit Pistons on Sunday.
Jovic will not play because of a hamstring strain, and Butler is listed as questionable with a foot contusion after it was stepped on during a win at Detroit on Friday.
The Heat already are without Tyler Herro and Kevin Love, who did not travel with the team for its current four-game road trip that opened with the 108-95 victory when Butler and Jovic were injured.
Jovic started but played just a little more than 15 minutes. Butler was able to play more than 31 minutes in the win that ended Miami’s four-game losing streak.
Herro has been out since Feb. 23 and has missed the past 10 games. He reportedly received a platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injection to treat medial tendinitis in his right foot. There is no timetable for his return, but there’s hope he will get back before the end of the regular season, which is in less than a month.
Love has missed the past eight games with a bruised heel. He last played on Feb. 27.
They are all the latest in a long line of injuries that have plagued the Heat during the 2023-24 NBA campaign. Josh Richardson also has been lost for the season after having shoulder surgery.
Duncan Robinson and rookie Jaime Jaquez Jr. are the only Heat players to appear in at least 60 of their 66 games so far, and Bam Adebayo is the only other player to appear in more than 50. Miami has used 21 different players and 17 different starters this season.
Adebayo also appears on the injury report for Sunday, listed as available with a back contusion. Caleb Martin is available with a thumb sprain, while Cole Swider and Alondes Williams are in the G League as part of their two-way contracts.
Despite all of that, the Heat are almost certainly on their way back to the NBA postseason for a fifth straight year, but they may have to compete in the play-in round again.
They are in seventh place in the Eastern Conference with a 36-30 record and in a tight race with the Indiana Pacers and Philadelphia 76ers for the sixth position and a guaranteed spot in the playoffs. Managing to grab another win against the lowly Pistons while short-handed would be a big help.
