The already depleted Miami Heat lineup could be without the services of guard Tyler Herro on Wednesday night against the Philadelphia 76ers.
Herro suffered the contusion during Monday night’s 105-94 road loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers, which sent the Heat to their fifth loss in the last eight games.
The 21-year-old Herro has been delivering career-high numbers thus far during the 2021-22 campaign, averaging 20.3 points, 5.2 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game.
Now in his third season in the NBA, Herro is continuing to develop into a key scoring option off the bench for the Heat. In his 25 games this year, Herro has started just seven of those contests, but remains a threat from long range, connecting on 38.2 percent of his 3-point shots.
The contest against the 76ers was already seen as an uphill battle, considering that the Heat will be missing key players such as Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo. That matchup is the second of four straight road games, with the Heat not scheduled to play at home until a Dec. 21 clash against the Indiana Pacers.
Butler has been dealing with a tailbone injury, while Adebayo is continuing his rehabilitation after undergoing surgery for a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right thumb.
In the case of Markieff Morris, he’s still struggling to return from the neck injury that he suffered last month when the Denver Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic delivered a blindside hit. Meanwhile, Caleb Martin is still in COVID-19 protocols, an issue that has plagued a number of other teams, most notably the Chicago Bulls.