Miami Heat star on course for least-available season

It's appearing more and more like last season was the anomaly.

Tyler Herro played 77 of 82 games last season, by far the most of his career -- the Miami Heat guard played 67 in 2022-23. That availability earned praise, especially since it came in the wake of Heat president calling Herro "fragile" in the previous end-of-season's press conference.

But now the Heat are about to be 27 games into the following season, with a contest in Brooklyn coming on Thursday night, and Herro has played in just six. He missed the first 17 to heal from late offseason ankle surgery, and he's about to miss a fourth due to a lingering toe issue. His official listing is doubtful, though he did travel with the team for the four-game trip.

Herro took a Toradol shot to play against the Magic last week before missing Monday's game vs. Raptors.

Herro: "I’m just trying to control the swelling and the inflammation, and then from there I can kind of decide what I want to do from there.” https://t.co/kezXC2iUUu
— Anthony Chiang (@Anthony_Chiang) December 17, 2025

Herro wasn't supposed to suit up for the Heat's NBA Cup quarterfinal loss in Orlando, but took a shot to moderate the pain and inflammation. He hasn't played since.

While he is averaging 23 points and five rebounds, and shooting extremely efficiently (he's currently in rarefied 50/40/90 territory), the problem is the sample size. It's too small. While some fans have blamed Herro for slowing the offense, the reality is he hasn't been on the floor enough to have a huge effect one way or another.

All of this is problematic as the Heat try to build chemistry, and need shooting, and having Herro on the floor with Norman Powell was supposed to provide all of that. But they've played fewer than 100 minutes together this season, as Powell has missed time too. Powell has had ankle and groin ailments, and now has a calf problem -- something that must be handled carefully, so he's no guarantee to go against the Nets. He's 32, so it's not likely he will have fewer absences down the line.

Looming over all of this is Miami's future financial situation, and decisions to be made about whether to extend Powell after his contract runs out after this season, and Herro the season after that. Right now, it's hard to say how they look together; we've seen so little. Erik Spoelstra says they've worked hard behind the scenes, but that only goes so far.

And while the Heat must manage every injury carefully and differently, Herro's continued absences -- even those beyond his control -- don't give much confidence that the harmony will ever really develop this season. Not with Herro on pace to play all of 18 of 82 games. His career-low was 42, not including playoff situations, during which he has also missed considerable time.