Pelle Larsson #9 of the Miami Heat holds his ankle after an injury in the first half of a Emirates NBA Cup Quarterfinals game against the Orlando Magic at Kia Center on December 09, 2025 in Orlando. Julio Aguilar Getty Images
Miami Heat guard Pelle Larsson just wants to play.
“It’s frustrating,” Larsson said following Wednesday’s practice at Kaseya Center.
Larsson feels that way because he’s now facing the reality of missing at least one more game with a sprained ankle after turning his right ankle early in the fourth quarter of Monday’s home win over the Denver Nuggets. Larsson won’t travel with the team to Detroit on Wednesday and will miss Thursday’s matchup against the Pistons at Little Caesars Arena (7 p.m., FanDuel Sports Network Sun).
This comes just days after Larsson returned from a sprained left ankle that forced him to miss five straight games. Monday marked just his third game back from that ankle injury, and now he’s dealing with a sprain to his other ankle.
“I just keep stepping on people’s feet and yeah, just getting a little bit unlucky at the moment,” Larsson said.
But Larsson doesn’t expect to miss as much time with his second sprained ankle.
“Fortunately this is one that wasn’t as bad,” Larsson said. “So I’m already doing a lot more than I was doing with the other one. ... Comparing how it was when it happened now and [the first sprained ankle], it’s much better. So I’m expecting less time out.”
Larsson needed to undergo an MRI on his first sprained ankle in December, but no MRI was required for his latest turned ankle.
“It’s part of the NBA,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said Wednesday of Larsson’s back-to-back sprained ankles. “He’s able to do some work here right now, continue to treat him day-to-day. But we’re encouraged that it didn’t look like the last one.”
With Larsson already ruled out for Thursday’s game in Detroit, his next chance to play will come when the Heat returns home to face the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday to kick of a back-to-back set in Miami that ends Sunday against the New Orleans Pelicans.
When Larsson has been available this season, he has been an important part of the Heat’s rotation.
Larsson, 24, has averaged 9.2 points, 2.7 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game while shooting 46.5 percent from the field and 36.6 percent from three-point range in 27 games (18 starts) this season. The Heat has outscored opponents by 2.3 points per 100 possessions when he has been on the court this season.
Larsson said this is the first time he has ever suffered back-to-back sprained ankles in such a short time frame.
“Maybe it’s a family thing,” Larsson joked, “because my brother sprained both his ankles the same day this summer when he was playing basketball.”
Along with missing Larsson, the Heat will remain without Tyler Herro on Thursday against the Pistons. It will mark the ninth straight game and the 11th game in the last 12 games that Herro has missed with a right big toe contusion.
The rest of the Heat’s injury report for Thursday’s game in Detroit is expected to be released on Wednesday afternoon.
A COMPLIMENT FOR THE DOUBLE-BIG LOOK
Spoelstra challenged the Heat’s double-big frontcourt of Bam Adebayo and Kel’el Ware earlier this month to produce more positive minutes together.
Bam Adebayo #13 high fives Kel'el Ware #7 of the Miami Heat during the first half against the Philadelphia 76ers at the Wells Fargo Center on February 05, 2025 in Philadelphia. Emilee Chinn Getty Images
In Monday’s win over the Nuggets, the Heat started the Adebayo-Ware lineup and it led to positive results. The Heat outscored the Nuggets by four points in the 17 minutes that Adebayo and Ware played together.
That drew a compliment from Spoelstra, who pointed out the fact that Adebayo and Ware combined for 19 total rebounds and eight offensive rebounds on Monday.
“The double-big lineup, that’s important what they both did,” Spoelstra said following Monday’s victory. “There will be some possessions where it doesn’t look aesthetically great. That’s OK. Like, in a modern day spacing and all of that. But what they did was five offensive rebounds for Kel’el and three for Bam in those minutes. That’s what it has to be. You have to beat up teams that play a bit smaller or trying to spread you out and you’re losing. You can’t lose all the different games. It’s always about who can get the other team to blink, and I thought their physicality was really important in their minutes together.”
But for the season, the results have been underwhelming for the Adebayo-Ware pairing. Opponents have outscored the Heat by 12.8 points per 100 possessions in the 202 minutes they have played together this season.
“Sometimes things take some time and it’ll get there,” Spoelstra said when asked about the duo’s season-long struggles together. “I think the want level is there for them and us. The physicality and the size gives us something different.”