After sitting out the Miami Heat’s first 17 games of the 2025-26 regular season, guard Tyler Herro made his season debut in Monday’s game against the Dallas Mavericks. He pretty much picked up right where he left off after enjoying a career year last season, too, and didn’t show any noticeable signs of rust.
Herro ranked tops on the Heat in scoring with 24 points on great efficiency to boot, as he shot 12-of-18 from the floor. But despite his impressive showing in his return to the lineup, Herro made it clear that he’s still rehabbing. He even said that he could have waited two more weeks to come back.
“I still got a long way to go,” Herro said. “I still got to rehab, recovery.
“I easily could have probably waited another two weeks to come back. But I’m healthy enough to be out there and I want to be out there, so that was the most important to me.”
The former University of Kentucky star was on the shelf for a while to begin the season for the Heat due to surgery he got on his ankle. Herro underwent surgery back in September and clearly needed some time to recover from that operation before he was ready to play.
Herro’s scoring punch helped extend the Heat’s current winning streak to five games, as Miami beat Dallas by a final score of 106-102. The win also marked Miami’s 12th of the season compared to only six losses, and the team is currently in possession of the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference.
It should be exciting to see how Miami’s offensive attack fares in the coming weeks now that such a lethal weapon on that end is back in the fold. It’s worth noting that Herro was probably the Heat’s best offensive player just last season, as he averaged 23.9 points and 5.5 assists per game, both of which marked career-highs.
There’s a real possibility that a Heat offense that already looked like a well-oiled machine sans Herro will become even more lethal now that he’s back on the court.
Hopefully, Herro will build on his scoring performance on Monday when the Heat do battle against the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday in an NBA Cup game. Milwaukee has been reeling as of late, as the team is on a five-game losing streak and has dropped all the way down to the No. 11 seed in the East.