Miami Heat guard Tyler Herro has taken a major leap in his third season in the NBA, as he’s averaging a career-high 20.0 points per game for the Heat.
Herro has helped lead Miami to the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference through the All-Star break, and one Eastern Conference scout actually believes that Herro should’ve been an All-Star this season.
“He got screwed out of the All-Star Game,” the scout told the Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson. “He should have been there. He’s the league’s best sixth man this year, an All-Star level player. The fact he can now create his own shot and make it has taken him to a whole other level. Lou Williams won the sixth man award [three times], and Herro is better than Lou Williams.”
Herro isn’t only averaging a career high in points per game, as he is also posting his best assists per game mark (3.9) of his career this season. With Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo and Kyle Lowry all missing time this season, Herro has been key in keeping Miami atop the Eastern Conference standings.
The scout’s praise for Herro didn’t stop at the All-Star snub. The scout believes the Heat would be foolish to include Herro in a hypothetical trade for Washington Wizards star Bradley Beal this coming offseason.
“I would not give up Herro [in a package] for [Bradley] Beal this summer,” the scout said. “The talent differential is not big enough to do that now.”
Beal, who is out for the remainder of the 2021-22 season, was in the midst of a down year shooting the ball prior to his season-ending injury. This season, Beal put up 23.2 points per game on 45.1 percent shooting from the field and 30.0 percent shooting from deep.
For comparison, Herro is shooting 42.7 percent from the field and an impressive 37.4 percent from 3-point range in the 2021-22 season. The Heat guard is taking 6.7 3-pointers per game this season. Beal took just 5.3 per game before getting hurt for the Wizards.
Miami clearly has found an impact player in Herro, and the team may want to hang on to him going forward, especially if the Heat find a way to make it back to the NBA Finals this season.