An encouraging Heat injury update on Tyler Herro and Jaime Jaquez Jr. Also, Heat makes roster move
As the Miami Heat returned to the Kaseya Center practice court on Friday, there was some good news.
Guard Tyler Herro and forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. appear close to making their returns for the Heat after being held out of Monday’s “Red, White & Pink Game” intrasquad scrimmage and Tuesday’s preseason opener because of strained groins.
Herro, 24, and Jaquez, 23, took part in Friday’s practice and there’s a chance both will play in the Heat’s second of five preseason games on Sunday against the New Orleans Pelicans at Kaseya Center (3:30 p.m., Bally Sports Sun).
“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.”
When asked if he would play Sunday against the Pelicans, Herro was noncommittal but sounded optimistic.
“Yeah, I should be,” Herro said. “We’ll see what happens.”
Jaquez also is hopeful that he will be able to play in Sunday’s home preseason game.
“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.”
Herro said his minor groin injury stemmed from the work he put in during training camp last week in the Bahamas.
“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.”
Jaquez said he felt tightness in his groin at the start of training camp.
“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.”
The only player on the Heat’s roster who was limited in Friday’s practice was guard Josh Richardson, who continues to rehabilitate from right shoulder surgery that he underwent in March. The Heat will also practice Saturday ahead of Sunday’s exhibition game against the Pelicans.
ROSTER MOVE
On Thursday night, the Heat announced it waived guard Caleb Daniels from his Exhibit 10 contract to make room to sign center Warren Washington to an Exhibit 10 deal.
Both Daniels and Washington are expected to transition to the Heat’s G League affiliate, the Sioux Falls Skyforce, this season. The Heat also still currently has guards Isaiah Stevens and Zyon Pullin signed to Exhibit 10 contracts, which will likely lead them to playing for the Skyforce this season, as well.
Washington, who went undrafted this year out of Texas Tech, played for the Heat’s summer league team this past offseason. He finished his collegiate career with 1,084 points, 755 rebounds and 150 blocks.
“We’re encouraged by all the work that he put in this summer,” Spoelstra said of Washington. “He got a lot better, he really did. His role, I think, that he’s going to have, he worked on that. He has wrapped his mind around that to be a defensive big, an energy guy on the glass, run the floor, setting screens, get people open, be that vertical spacer. All of those things, he did extremely well.”
By swapping out Daniels for Washington, the Heat’s roster remains at the NBA’s 21-player preseason maximum.
Rosters around the league must be cut to a maximum total of 18 players (15 on standard contracts and three on two-way contracts) by the start of the regular season. Those cuts need to be made by Saturday, Oct. 19 at 5 p.m.
