Inside The Heat

Miami Heat-Orlando Magic Injury Report: Heat Relatively Healthy Entering Opener

Shandel Richardson

Jan 25, 2024; Miami, Florida, USA; Miami Heat guard Josh Richardson (0) dribbles the basketball against the Boston Celtics during the third quarter at Kaseya Center. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images
Jan 25, 2024; Miami, Florida, USA; Miami Heat guard Josh Richardson (0) dribbles the basketball against the Boston Celtics during the third quarter at Kaseya Center. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images / Sam Navarro-Imagn Images
In this story:

The Miami Heat are only missing one key player for tonight's season opener against the Orlando Magic.

Guard Josh Richardson will not play because of a foot injury.

Here's the game preview:

Game time: 7:30 pm., ET

Where: Kaseya Center, Miami

TV: FanDuel Sports Network

Betting line: Heat -1.5

VITALS: The Heat and Magic meet for the first of four matchups this season. Tonight marks the ninth time the Heat has opened a season against Orlando with the last opener between the teams in Miami happening back in 2002. Last season, the Heat won the series, 3-1, and has won
four of the last five overall. Miami is 79-59 all-time versus the Magic during the regular season, including 44-24 in home games and 35-35 in road games. This marks the first game with Pat Riley's name on the court.

PROJECTED STARTERS

HEAT

G Terry Rozier

G Tyler Herro

C Bam Adebayo

F Jimmy Butler

F Nikola Jovic

MAGIC 

F Franz Wagner

F Paolo Banchero

C Draymond Green 

G Jalen Suggs

G Kentavious Caldwell-Pope 

QUOTABLE

Heat coach Erik Spoelstra on opening the season: “We’re just trying to get on the same page, put together a game that makes sense for our team. We’re not reinventing the game of basketball. We’re not reinventing it for us. These are supposed to be some subtle, and, hopefully, some-level-of-sophisticated improvements. But that’s really all it is. I just want our guys comfortable. I want them knowing how we’re going to play, what’s going to lead to winning, and get to that more consistently.”

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Shandel Richardson is the publisher of Miami Heat On SI. He can be reached at shandelrich@gmail.com

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Shandel Richardson
SHANDEL RICHARDSON

Shandel has covered the NBA since 2010, with previous stops at The Athletic and South Florida Sun-Sentinel.  He has covered six NBA Finals, one Super Bowl, the NCAA basketball tournament. He has also been a beat writer for the Miami Hurricanes and contributed on every major beat in South Florida since 2003, including the Miami Dolphins and Miami Marlins. He can also be read in the Sportsbook Review for gambling coverage from around the NBA. A native of Bloomington, Illinois, Shandel attended Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. He's also worked for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Kansas City Star.  TWITTER: @ShandelRich EMAIL: shandelrich@gmail.com You can subscribe to our YouTube channel here Follow all of our Miami Heat coverage on Facebook here