Is Tyler Herro Playing? Full Blazers vs Heat Injury Report Revealed
Will the Miami Heat's top scorer so far in 2024-25, shooting guard Tyler Herro, be available for their tilt against the Portland Trail Blazers on Saturday night?
According to the NBA's most recent injury report, Herro has been dealing with a left knee contusion, but will be available to play through the ailment against the lowly Trail Blazers.
At 19-17, the Heat currently occupy the No. 7 seed in the Eastern Conference, and have been riding relatively high on a two-game win streak. Herro's been a big part of the team's recent semi-success.
The 6-foot-5 swingman out of Kentucky is averaging a career-high 23.6 points on .468/.402/.867 shooting splits, 5.6 rebounds, 5.0 assists, and 0.8 steals a night across 36 games so far. Last year, health limited Herro to just 42 games total, a number he's almost eclipsed in January.
Herro's been so good that there has been a groundswell of support for the former Sixth Man of the Year to make his first All-Star game this year.
Miami, too, is advocating for Herro's All-Stardom. He's been the main thing keeping the club afloat, between Butler's unavailability and Bam Adebayo's lack of offensive contributions.
The 13-24 Trail Blazers, meanwhile, are in full-on tank mode. Portland is angling to make its fourth consecutive NBA draft lottery this summer, with an eye on talent like Duke power forward Cooper Flagg and Rutgers talents Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey.
Herro may be available, but not every elite scorer on Miami is so lucky. Six-time All-Star Heat small forward Jimmy Butler continues to serve his seven-game suspension, and remains away from the team.
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It's been speculated that Butler, who has very publicly been looking to be traded elsewhere, will never don a Heat jersey again, so fraught is the relationship between the 6-foot-7 Marquette product and team president Pat Riley. It all boils down to money.
Butler, who possesses a player option for 2025-26 and could thus become an unrestricted free agent this summer, wanted to negotiate a maximum contract extension with the team during the 2024 offseason. When that didn't materialize, chemistry soured between the star and his team, and things have now become irrevocably toxic.
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Heat guard Dru Smith continues to recuperate from a left Achilles surgery.
For the Trail Blazers, power forward Jerami Grant (face contusion) and All-Defensive swingman Matisse Thybulle (right ankle sprain) are both out.
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