MRI reveals two bone bruises that will keep Heat’s Jones out at least six weeks

Heat forward Derrick Jones Jr. was diagnosed on Monday with two right knee bone bruises and won’t even be evaluated again until after six weeks.



He will begin treatment immediately and be evaluated around March 10. He would miss 18 games if he’s out six weeks but likely will be out longer than that.

While Jones, 21, was driving to the basket on a fast break, he was fouled by New York’s Allonzo Trier and looked to come up awkwardly on his right leg. The Madison Square Garden crowd was silent with Jones down on the court after a replay was shown on the video screen.

“It was scary. My stomach dropped,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said after Sunday’s game, before the MRI was taken. “… But he’s smiling and joking in [the locker room]. He’s damn near a teenager, so hopefully he’ll heal much differently than we would.”

Jones was also fortunate to avoid a serious injury in the preseason when he suffered just a bruised right shoulder after taking a hard fall on a tip-in attempt with 6:01 remaining in an Oct. 2 preseason game against the Hornets.

“It was an absolutely crazy fall,” Spoelstra said in October of Jones’ shoulder injury. “He was probably 14 feet in the air, and for him to crash like that and for it just to be a bruise. All of us are extremely thankful for that. Watching it live, it looked horrifying. But he has a way of falling and he already has a smile on his face.”

Jones has been one of the Heat’s bright spots this season, developing into a rotation player. He’s averaged 7.4 points and 4.4 rebounds in 37 games this season.

But Jones has taken on a bigger role recently, playing in 24 of the Heat’s past 25 games. He’s averaged 8.7 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.1 steals during this stretch.

The athletic Jones was hoping to participate in this year’s Slam Dunk Contest, but said he had not been invited yet. Nicknamed “Airplane Mode,” Jones’ vertical leap was once measured at 48 inches.

Jones, who went undrafted out of UNLV in 2016, was on a two-way contract with the Heat last season. Miami signed him to a standard NBA contract in July.

This story was originally published January 28, 2019 at 4:24 PM.