Miami Heat guard Tyler Herro (14) reacts after sinking a three pointer in the first half against the Milwaukee Bucks during their NBA basketball game at Kaseya Center in Miami on November 26, 2025. PHOTO BY AL DIAZ adiaz@miamiherald.com
The Miami Heat is hitting the road on a five-game losing skid and with some injury issues.
Tyler Herro (right big toe contusion), Nikola Jovic (right elbow contusion/laceration), Pelle Larsson (sprained left ankle) and Norman Powell (left calf tightness) did not practice with the Heat (14-12) on Wednesday before the team flew to New York to begin a three-game trip against the Brooklyn Nets on Thursday (7:30 p.m., FanDuel Sports Sun).
But there is some good news for the Heat, as Herro plans to travel with the Heat on Wednesday and hopes to return at some point during the trip. While the lingering toe injury has kept Herro out for three of the past four games, he described it Wednesday as a “very short-term” issue.
“I just got to rest it and calm it down until I get back to normal,” Herro said. “I’m going on the trip, so I’m hopeful that I’ll be back at some point on the trip, if not, then hopefully the week at home.”
The Heat’s trip includes games against the Nets on Thursday, the Boston Celtics on Friday and the New York Knicks on Sunday. The Heat then returns home to host the Toronto Raptors on Tuesday.
“A lot of swelling in my toe,” Herro, 25, said. “And I think between the swelling and the pain that I am feeling, just got to control that, so it’s not like something that lingers on through the year. I want to try to get control of it and I can play through the pain.”
Herro underwent his second MRI on Tuesday in less than two weeks, with both scans showing a right big toe contusion.
Herro hurt his toe during a Dec. 3 loss to the Mavericks in Dallas and went on to miss the next two games before returning to play in the Heat’s Dec. 9 NBA Cup loss to the Orlando Magic. Herro took a Toradol shot to play against the Magic.
Then after a five-day break between games and taking part in the Heat’s three practices during that break, Herro was a late scratch for Monday’s loss to the Raptors. The decision was made to hold out Herro shortly before tipoff.
“It hasn’t really gotten better, so I tried to warm up and I just wasn’t feeling right that night,” Herro said of not playing against the Raptors on Monday.
In retrospect, Herro believes he should have taken the practice days off during the team’s five-day break to rest his injured toe.
“I probably shouldn’t have practiced,” Herro said. “That kind of like sparked things back up. So 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.”
Herro, who also missed the first 17 games of the season because of offseason ankle surgery, has already missed 20 of the Heat’s first 26 games.
Herro is averaging 23.2 points per game on 50.5% shooting from the field, 40.5% shooting from three-point range and 92.3% shooting from the foul line in his six appearances this season. The Heat is 3-3 in the six games that Herro has played in.
“We want to make sure that we get him feeling good about his foot and his toe,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said of Herro.
Jovic is also optimistic that he will be able to return to game action soon after X-rays and an MRI on his injured right arm came back clean. He received seven stitches to close the laceration on his right elbow, walking around practice on Wednesday with a wrap around his injured arm.
Jovic said he considers himself to be week-to-week.
“They said it depends on how I process it, how much pain after this,” Jovic said Wednesday. “So I just need the swelling to go away, the pain. I’ve got to get this feeling in my arm, and that’s it.”
Miami Heat forward Nikola Jovic (5) is escorted off the court after getting fouled by Toronto Raptors forward Collin Murray-Boyles (12) and hurting his arm during the first half of a game on Dec. 15, 2025, at Kaseya Center inMiami. Alie Skowronski askowronski@miamiherald.com
But the injury initially appeared much worse after he took a hard fall while going up for a dunk and being fouled in the first quarter of Monday’s loss to the Raptors.
Jovic immediately grabbed his lower back and remained down on the court writhing in pain, as Heat teammates and trainers immediately rushed to check on him.
Heat trainers initially called for a stretcher to be brought out, but the stretcher ultimately wasn’t needed. Jovic was able to walk off the court, but with his right arm in a protective brace.
“I was scared I broke my arm, because I didn’t feel anything and I just saw a lot of blood,” Jovic said. “And they were really scared, too, because I had a pretty deep and a big cut, too. I have stitches now. But it didn’t look good as soon as I went back, because I started feeling my arm. It feels good now. I can’t do a lot of stuff. I can’t really hold stuff right now. But it’s not broken, so I guess that’s the most important thing and I think I’ll be back really soon.”
While Jovic said “my elbow was like opened up,” he also knows he avoided the worst-case scenario.
“Everybody said I dodged a big bullet,” Jovic said.
Powell’s calf issue is new after he logged 34 minutes in Monday’s loss to the Raptors. He has missed five of the first 26 games this season because of multiple ailments.
Larsson has already missed one game with his sprained left ankle.
While Jovic will miss Thursday’s matchup against the Nets, Herro, Larsson and Powell’s statuses for the contest are still unclear. The Heat will issue its injury report for Thursday’s game on Wednesday afternoon.