The one aspect of the Miami Heat that has been concerning is the amount of injuries they have dealt with the past few seasons as they hope 2024 can be a turning point. However, the Heat are dealing with injuries to Tyler Herro and Jaime Jaquez Jr. where they missed the scrimmage last Monday and preseason opener as there is positive updates that have come out of Friday's practice.
Both Herro and Jaquez both took part in practice in limited fashion Friday which could set them up to participate in Sunday's home preseason opener against the New Orleans Pelicans. Miami head coach Erik Spoelstra spoke to the media Friday and said the added days of rest due to the previous events missed and the postponement of a game due to Hurricane Milton have benefitted the recovery of the two young stars according to Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald.
“The extra days helped,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said of Herro and Jaquez after Friday’s practice. “But they’ve been working quite a bit behind the scenes. So I wasn’t surprised they were able to do some work today.”
Heat's Tyler Herro provides insight into his groin injury
As for Herro who spoke about his possible role with the Heat during media day, one of his main goals he stated was staying healthy after only playing 40 games the season prior. However, he starts the preseason with an injury that does not seem to be all too serous as he's dealing with a right groin strain as he was not too sure on his status for Sunday's preseason game against New Orleans.
“Yeah, I should be,” Herro said. “We’ll see what happens.”
The injury for Herro seems to be a recent development as he credited the work he put into training camp in the Bahamas as where he suffered the issue. In the same presser, he would downplay the injury to the media as saying he needed some time to rest up and there appears to be no worries for his status for the start of the season later this month.
“I was pretty sore after training camp,” Herro said. “Ran a lot and I was sore, so I needed a couple of days. I’m back.”
Heat's Jaime Jaquez Jr. on putting trust into training staff
Looking at the much talented Jaquez, who is heading into his second season with the Heat after an impressive rookie campaign, he is also dealing with a groin injury, specifically a left groin strain. One could be concerned since Jaquez dealt with groin injuries multiple times throughout the year last season, but spoke about putting trust in the training staff to get him right.
“We got to talk to the training staff,” Jaquez said. “I put my trust in them that they’re going to get me in the best shape possible and they’re going to let me know just as I’m letting them know that I’m ready to go and ramping up. It’s the back and forth because they try to protect us from ourselves sometimes, where you can overwork and do things to hurt yourself. That’s not what we want.”
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Heat's Jaime Jaquez Jr. reveals when he started feeling issues in groin
Jaquez impressed right from the get go in his first season where he won back to back Eastern Conference rookie of the month honors and by the end of the season, was selected to the NBA's All-Rookie first team. Like Herro, Jaquez attributed training camp to when he felt some issues in the injured area and doubles down on the trust he's putting into the team so he can get back on the floor as quickly as possible.
“I had felt some tightness in my groin, and I let the training staff know,” Jaquez said. “It became really tight, it became a little painful at one point and they decided to just hold me out for a little bit just to not make it any worse than it already was. I trust in their decision and their process that they go through. Just trusting in everything they need to get me back on the court and I’m feeling great right now.”
At any rate, Miami are hoping to get back Herro and Jaquez as soon as possible so they can prepare to improve after finishing the past two seasons with the eighth seed. After the home preseason opener on Sunday, the Heat looks for a productive preseason in preparation for the regular season opener on Oct. 23 against the Orlando Magic.
