Heat’s Nikola Jovic discusses back injury that derailed rookie year and lessons he learned
With the Miami Heat expected to sit some rotation players in Sunday’s essentially meaningless regular-season finale, the game represents an opportunity for some of the developmental players on the roster to play extended minutes.
But rookie forward Nikola Jovic is not among those who will get that chance, as he misses another game with back spasms. Sunday afternoon’s regular-season finale against the Orlando Magic at Kaseya Center marks the eighth straight game he has missed with back spasms and the 37th game he has missed this season because of a back issue.
“It’s something that started during the summer league,” Jovic said of his back injury. “That’s when I first felt it. Then just through the season, it was hurting more and more. At one point, I just couldn’t play anymore. The back injury was bothering me even off the court. So I just couldn’t deal with it anymore. I knew from the start I would need to take some time off. I didn’t know how much. It’s my body, back injuries are not a joke. So I knew I would need to work on it a lot and I would need to rest to make it better.”
Jovic, who was drafted by the Heat with the 27th overall pick last year, was initially diagnosed with a lower back stress reaction in early January. He sat out 29 straight games with that injury before returning to take part in a two-week G League assignment with the Sioux Falls Skyforce in March.
But after re-joining the Heat in mid-March, Jovic was available for just two games before missing the final seven games of the regular season with back spasms. He has not played in a game with the Heat since Dec. 28.
Jovic, who turns 20 on June 9, remains optimistic that he’ll be able to get past the back injury and insists he won’t need surgery to fix the issue.
“As far as my injury, I’ll never need surgery to fix it,” Jovic said. “Also, I’m still young so my bones are not strong enough. There’s a lot of stuff.”
Even before Jovic went out with a back injury, he was not a consistent member of the Heat’s rotation as most of his playing time came when the team was depleted by injuries. He averaged 5.5 points, 2.1 rebounds and 0.7 assists per game while shooting 40.6 percent from the field and 8 of 35 (22.9 percent) from three-point range in 15 appearances (eight starts) in his first NBA regular season.
Despite all of the games missed and his lingering back injury, Jovic still views his rookie season as a success because of the lessons he has learned after being drafted out of Serbia.
“I think this has helped me a lot,” Jovic said. “You can look at it different ways, but I think it’s been great for me. I think I learned how to be a professional athlete this year. I think as much as I learned on the court, I learned also off the court. And just becoming a pro athlete, taking care of my body, just seeing how the other guys work.
“We have a lot of vets on our team and I think I learned a lot from them. Also, I got some playing time with the starters, so I kind of know how it looks, I kind of know what I need to work on, I know how I should feel about my body, how I should take care of my body. I think this season has been, as far as right now, it’s been really successful. So I’m looking forward to just continuing doing the same thing and continuing working on my body and just being better.”
Jovic said his focus this upcoming offseason will be on improving as a defender because “I need to earn minutes through defense.” He’s also working to continue building his body while getting healthy.
Jovic has already added 13 pounds since he was drafted by the Heat last summer and he hopes to get even stronger ahead of his second NBA season.
“They want to see me just get stronger,” Jovic said. “At this point, just adding weight little by little because I want to stay in great shape, be able to move on the court good.”
TAKING CHARGE
Even with forward Kevin Love falling out of the Cleveland Cavaliers’ rotation for a chunk of the schedule before signing with the Heat in February, he still entered the final day of the regular season ranked second in the NBA with 33 charges drawn. Oklahoma City’s Jaylin Williams is the only player in the league who has taken more charges than Love this season with 43.
Since joining the Heat during the All-Star break, Love has drawn 16 charges in his first 20 appearances with Miami. He took four charges in Thursday’s win over the 76ers in Philadelphia.
“He has a great knack for that,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said of Love’s ability to draw charges. “He understands that that’s important to us. That’s what he does. I think he’s one of the league leaders even this year, which says a lot. He wasn’t in the [Cavaliers] rotation for the entire year. You have to have the courage to do it. But you also have to have the IQ defensively. You have to see plays develop before they happen, and [Udonis Haslem] and Kevin both have that innate skill for that and the toughness to be able to take some hard hits.”
INJURY REPORT
Despite already being locked into seventh place in the East, the Heat will play some of its regulars for limited minutes in Sunday’s regular-season finale against the Magic.
The Heat only ruled out Jimmy Butler (rest) and Jovic.
This story was originally published April 9, 2023 at 9:07 AM.
