For a second straight year, Miami Heat guard Dru Smith has sustained a season-ending injury.
Smith will miss the remainder of the year with an Achilles tear. The news was first reported by Shams Charania of ESPN.
Smith left Monday’s victory over the Brooklyn Nets with a lower left leg injury. Teammates Alec Burks and Nikola Jović helped Smith off the court.
Smith had a rebound and an assist in seven minutes Monday night. He did not return after the injury.
“I don’t know the extent and don’t want to pontificate until we get the MRI,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra told reporters. “We were all messed up for a while.”
Smith, who turns 27 on Dec. 30, is no stranger to rocks in the road. He went undrafted in 2021 and has been waived and re-signed four times in three seasons. Miami waived him last March, less than four months after he tore his ACL.
Smith is on a two-way contract. He averages career-highs in points (6.3), rebounds (2.8), and steals (1.5) over 19.1 minutes.
Prior to Smith’s injury Monday night, he’d played at least 25 minutes in each of Miami’s previous seven games. He even started his first game of the year in Saturday’s crushing loss to the Magic.
“We have incredible, deep respect for his journey and what he has to overcome,” Spoelstra said. “I’ve been in the building all those times last year when nobody else was here, and he was doing all the extensive treatment and rehab round the clock.
“He has incredible fortitude,” Spoelstra added. “You end up absolutely rooting for guys like Dru.”
Added Jović: "I just want to say I love him, and that we're all with him, and we're praying for him."
The Heat return to the court Thursday against the Magic.
Shandel Richardson is the publisher of Miami Heat On SI. He can be reached at [email protected]
