Miami Heat guard Tyler Herro left Wednesday night’s game against the Memphis Grizzlies with an ankle injury after stepping on Grizzlies big man Jaren Jackson Jr.’s foot.
After the game was over, he gave a concerning update, stating that he heard “some crunches and cracks” in his ankle. He warned that he would probably be out for a couple weeks.
A Thursday MRI reportedly showed that the University of Kentucky product suffered a Grade 2 ankle sprain, with a re-evaluation to come in two weeks.
It’s a huge blow for Herro and the Heat, as the former first-round pick has been on fire to start the 2023-24 campaign.
Entering Wednesday’s game against Memphis, Herro was averaging 25.3 points, 5.6 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game on 44.6 percent shooting from the field and 41.0 percent shooting from beyond the arc.
He only played a little more than eight minutes against the Grizzlies, so his nightly averages took a bit of a hit. The 23-year-old seemed like he was on his way to possibly having another big outing, as he had gone 2-of-4 from the field with two assists.
The Heat were able to pull out the victory despite Herro’s absence to move to 4-4 on the season. Miami has now won three straight games after dropping four of its first five contests.
It’ll be interesting to see how head coach Erik Spoelstra manages his rotation in Herro’s absence. Players like Kyle Lowry and Jaime Jaquez Jr. will need to step up.
Jaquez, who played all 12 minutes in the fourth quarter on Wednesday, hit a 3-point dagger to kill off a late Memphis rally. He scored eight points in the quarter while also recording two rebounds, one assist and one steal.
Big man Bam Adebayo will likely be asked to take on a bigger role on offense with the Heat now down one of their primary ball-handlers. Adebayo has been solid to start the season, recording 22.7 points and 9.3 rebounds per game on 50.9 percent shooting from the field. He’s also getting to the free-throw line 8.1 times nightly.
Over the next two weeks, the Heat have a total of seven games. Only time will tell what their record is by then.