(Photo via Imagn Images)
Early on Friday morning, the Miami Heat fanbase was hit with the bombshell news of Tyler Herro suffering an offseason ankle injury. As originally reported by Five Reasons Sports and then later confirmed by ESPN, Herro will now undergo surgery on his left foot and be sidelined to begin the 2025-26 campaign.
It is unclear as of now what the exact recovery timeline looks like. But Miami Herald’s Anthony Chiang reported that the Heat should be looking to brace themselves to be without their All-Star guard for at least one month, “and possibly a little more” at minimum to start the regular season.
Before the overdue refresh of a new season even starts, the Heat are already looking at adversity.
This was supposed to be a huge year for Herro, and it still can be once he returns. Although Miami will have to hope that no other significant injuries take place to the team’s core in the meantime while awaiting for Herro to get back in the lineup.
After coming off a career-year with averages of nearly 24 points, 5.5 assists and 5.2 rebounds on 47% shooting and 38% from 3-point range, he was expected to continue his All-Star leap from this past season. However, this injury news doesn’t just impact the Heat’s success— but also Herro’s potential payday.
Tyler Herro remains max contract extension eligible beginning in October.
The 25-year-old combo guard was set to explore possible contract extension negotiations heading into this season.
Miami could have offered Herro a three-year, $150 million extension starting on October 1st. If the Heat or Herro waited until the 2026 offseason, he could have been eligible for a four-year, $207 million extension.
There’s a strong chance that this injury could now keep Herro from hitting either of those $50+ million annual salary figures entirely.
He has dealt with unfortunate injury concerns for most of his six-year career in the league, thus far. His rise to All-Star and 3-point champion status last year uncoincidentally came in a campaign in which he appeared in a career-best 77 games played in 2024-25.
Outside of last year, Herro hasn’t appeared in more than 67 out of the possible 82 games played. In his rookie and sophomore years, he played in an average of 54.5 games. The 2023-24 season, just two seasons ago, he played in his career-worst 42 total games. Not to mention time he has been sidelined in recent Heat playoff runs due to injury.
Clearly, there have been durability concerns.
Considering Herro has been hit with injury issues so early in his career, this latest one comes at the most inopportune time possible for him. It’s a rough history that Pat Riley and the Heat front office will assuredly have to consider before a $50 million per year payday.
There’s no question that Herro has talent, potential and work ethic to continue blossoming into a player worthy of that price tag. But the best ability will always be availability.
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Thank goodness we are only 11 days away from training camp!
Good chance to see how the team functions without Herro and with Mitchell starting. If the younger players come through, they should (hopefully) be able to hold their own. It just so happens that the team’s roughest stretch of the season will be October – November.
How does this sound until/unless the Heat trade for a third big man to rotate with Bam & Ware.
Mitchell, Powell, Wiggins, Jovic, Bam
Smith, Larsson, Jaquez, Fontecchio, Ware
Jakucionis, Rozier, Johnson, ?, ?
Pretty much what I said on the last thread……
This news will have a rippling effect. First, to address the elephant in the room, any discussion of an extension will now be entirely off the table. Even if the team wasn’t inclined to have that discussion anyway, this pretty much makes it official. Also, I have very mixed feelings about a player who waits until just before training camp to address an injury. If he had the surgery in mid July to early August, he might have been ready to go at the beginning of the season.
It’s too bad, because I was starting to come around to reports of a starting lineup of Bam, Jovic, Wiggins, Powell, and Herro, with Ware coming off the bench. That would create much greater balance, particularly with no real backup center on the roster at this point. I guess Davion will take Herro’s place in the starting lineup. I also wonder how close to 100% Dru is. That would help too.
Herro’s absence will reveal how badly the team needs his scoring. On the other hand, it may reveal he is not needed as much as he thinks, especially from a defensive standpoint. His absence may also make his trade by the deadline a greater possibility to avoid committing money to a huge extension. Finally, it may increase the likelihood of Jovic, Powell and possibly Wiggins being extended.
The team should get an inkling where they stand after their first 8 games from opening day October 22nd through November 3rd:
@ Orlando
@ Memphis
New York
Charlotte
@ San Antonio
@ Lakers
@ Clippers
@ Denver
If they somehow navigate that stretch, their games from November 10-December 5, 2025 don’t get much easier:
Cleveland
Cleveland
@ New York
New York
Golden State
@ Chicago
@ Philadelphjia
Dallas
Milwaukee
Detroit
Clippers
@ Dallas
@ Orlando
After that, if the team is still in one piece, decisions can be made regarding possible trades and extensions for players on expiring* contracts.
* An NBA player on an expiring contract can sign a veteran contract extension at any point during the NBA league year, from the start of the league year in July until the final day on June 30. For the extension to be permissible, the original contract must have been for at least three years.
P.S. Smith is recovering well, and there is optimism that he could be ready for the start of the 2025-26 NBA season.
Herro is projected to be out until games 15-17. That gives Spo an opportunity to experiment with different players and rotations and for the players to gel as a team.
I will enjoy watching the progress.
Me too! I’m cautiously optimistic about this year’s team. A good core with a chance for improvement. Although the intent was to increase scoring this season, the Heat may instead find they have one of the top 5 defensive rotations in the league. I get a feeling there will be several personnel changes during the early months of the season and up until the trade deadline in Feb. Should be exciting! Can’t wait to see how several players come into camp, especially, Powell, Ware, Wiggins, Jaquez, Fontecchio, Larsson, Smith and Rozier. Heat may have a few surprises for us.
This is a difficult time for the team, and for Ty, for this to happen. Hopefully, someone else will get an opportunity and run with it.