Early on in the second half of the Miami Heat’s contest versus the Indiana Pacers on Feb. 28, Heat youngster Jaime Jaquez Jr. landed awkwardly and injured his ankle. He didn’t return for the Heat after going down with his injury, but Miami still won the game by five points.
Jaime Jaquez fell down awkwardly and is holding his knee after twisting his ankle pic.twitter.com/DEAM2pgXXu
— Heat Clips 🎬 (@Demar305) March 1, 2025
A few days after Jaquez suffered the ankle injury, head coach Erik Spoelstra gave a positive update on the forward. According to one of the more accomplished coaches in the NBA today, Jaquez’s sprain “looked really bad” but he’s able to walk around.
Erik Spoelstra on Jaime Jaquez Jr.’s sprained ankle: “This one looked really bad on video. But he’s sprained his ankle so many times. He’s walking around OK. We’ll just have to see how he responds.”
— Anthony Chiang (@Anthony_Chiang) March 2, 2025
Jaquez has seen his role with the Heat get relegated as a sophomore compared to his rookie campaign. He’s averaging just 22.3 minutes per game this season and averaged 28.2 as a first-year player.
However, he’s still been a consistent contributor for the Heat across 49 games played so far in the 2024-25 campaign. He’s posting 9.0 points, 4.6 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.1 steals per game.
The Heat might struggle to win games without Jaquez’s presence when considering how Miami has fared to this point in the season without him on the court.
Jaquez has played in all but nine of the Heat’s games at this juncture, but their record sans him isn’t pretty. Miami has a record of just 3-6 in contests that he hasn’t played in. Most recently, the Heat lost to the Milwaukee Bucks by seven points sans Jaquez back on Feb. 23.
When factoring in that Jaquez brings an impressive all-around skill set to the table when healthy, it’s easy to see why the Heat haven’t played at the top of their game with him sidelined.
It’s already set in stone that he won’t play in the next game on Miami’s 82-game schedule at the very least. He has been ruled out for the Heat’s contest against the New York Knicks on Sunday night.
Unfortunately for the Heat, the Knicks have played well away from home this season. Their road record of 18-10 is one of the better road records of any of the 15 teams in the Eastern Conference, and New York also owns the East’s No. 3 seed.
