Bam Adebayo #13 celebrates with Tyler Herro #14 of the Miami Heat after scoring a three-pointer against the Detroit Pistons during the second quarter at Kaseya Center on March 08, 2026 in Miami. Rich Storry Getty Images
A lot has changed for the Miami Heat and guard Tyler Herro in recent days.
Less than two weeks ago, the Heat was coming off a painful Feb. 26 loss to the 76ers in Philadelphia to cap a winless two-game trip and fall deeper into play-in tournament territory.
Less than two weeks ago, Herro played as a reserve for the fourth consecutive game in that Feb. 26 loss to the 76ers following his return from a 15-game absence to due to a rib injury.
“There are 20 games left. I’m not coming off the bench for the rest of my career,” Herro said the morning of Feb. 26 when asked why he had been accepting of a bench role after playing as a full-time starter for the Heat since the start of the 2022-23 season. “There are 20 games left, and I’ve missed a lot of the season. So to just be here playing is all I really care about. “I missed a lot of games, so it’s understandable to have me coming off the bench right now for the last 20 games or whatever the case may be. Things could change.”
Things have definitely changed for the Heat and Herro.
Not only has the Heat put together a late-season surge to win five consecutive games since that loss in Philadelphia to move closer to avoiding the NBA’s play-in tourney, but Herro has served as a catalyst for this strong stretch while playing as a starter in place of the sidelined Norman Powell.
With Powell missing his fifth game in a row because of a strained right groin, Herro made his fifth straight start and helped lead the Heat to its fifth consecutive win in an impressive 121-110 victory the Eastern Conference-leading Detroit Pistons on Sunday night at Kaseya Center.
Herro, 26, totaled a team-high 25 points on 8-of-16 shooting from the field, 4-of-8 shooting from three-point range and 5-of-6 shooting from the foul line, six rebounds, three assists and one steal in 30 minutes in Sunday’s win. Miami outscored Detroit by 18 points with Herro on the court in just his ninth game back from a painful rib injury.
“I know I can play at this higher level. It’s just being healthy,” Herro said, with the Heat hoping to match its season-long six-game winning streak on Tuesday against the struggling Washington Wizards at Kaseya Center. (7:30 p.m., FanDuel Sports Network Sun). “So I’m appreciating just, again, being out there. I was without the game for a while, and to be out there means a lot. Now to be winning out there with these guys, it feels amazing.”
In nine appearances since returning from nearly a month away from game action, Herro has averaged 22.2 points, 4.3 rebounds and 4.9 assists per game while shooting 50.3% from the field, 27 of 60 (45%) from three-point range and 29 of 31 (93.5%) from the foul line. Herro is the only player in the NBA averaging more than 20 points per game while shooting at least 50% from the field, 45% on threes and 90% at the foul line since the All-Star break.
“It’s definitely not easy. It’s not,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said when asked how impressive this stretch is for Herro after missing so much time. “You see it all the time in this league. Players, they’re the best in the world at what they do and when they miss extended time, it is really tough. You hear it all the time. There’s nothing like game conditioning, game rhythm. But the way he works is about as close as you can get to that. Everything is a full-speed rep.”
During this five-game stretch as a starter, Herro is averaging 24.6 points, 4.8 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game while shooting 55.7% from the field, 17 of 33 (51.5%) on threes and 18 of 19 (94.7%) from the foul line.
“He’s letting the game come to him also,” Spoelstra added. “You don’t feel like he’s pressing or trying to get everything back on any particular possession. He’s just letting our style of play create some advantages where he can just see what’s happening and take advantage of any kind of weakness in the defense.”
The rib injury was just one of the issues that forced Herro to miss time this season.
Herro was sidelined for 45 of the Heat’s first 56 games this season before returning after the All-Star break and now playing in nine straight games. He missed the first 17 games of the season due to offseason ankle surgery, 13 games because of a toe contusion and then 15 games because of the rib injury.
“It’s incredible,” Heat forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. said of Herro. “He is the true definition of a professional. To be able to take all that time off, obviously dealing with injury, and then come back like he hasn’t missed a step. It’s really incredible. I don’t know a lot of guys who can really do what he’s been able to do.”
Herro has already proven he’s a natural scorer, as he has averaged more than 20 points per game in each of the previous four seasons. He was also the Heat’s lone All-Star last season.
But Herro is working to prove that he deserves an extension from the Heat. Herro become eligible to sign an extension worth as much as $206.9 million through four seasons this upcoming offseason.
Herro is also out to prove that he can stay healthy and impact winning. The Heat has outscored opponents by nine points per 100 possessions with Herro on the court in nine games since his return, creating a tricky starting lineup/rotation decision for Spoelstra when Powell eventually returns from injury.
“He’s a three-level scorer,” Heat captain Bam Adebayo said of Herro. “And obviously, we want him to be that, want him to be aggressive. He’s finding his groove and this is the Tyler Herro I like seeing, with that bounce in his step.”