Heat’s Herro ready for Thursday’s All-Star announcement: ‘I’m pretty anxious, I ain’t gonna lie’
The moment never appears too big for Tyler Herro on the court. The Miami Heat guard is known for his confidence and poise in important moments.
But Herro admits he’s nervous for Thursday night’s announcement of the reserves for the 2025 All-Star Game, which will take place on Feb. 16 at Chase Center in San Francisco. He’s hoping to be selected as an All-Star for the first time in his NBA career.
“I’m pretty anxious, I ain’t gonna lie,” Herro said ahead of Wednesday night’s matchup between the Heat and Cleveland Cavaliers at Kaseya Center. “I feel like this is almost like my first time looking forward to something since draft night. It’s kind of like draft night, honestly. I’m waiting for it.”
Head coaches select the seven reserves from each conference, which will be announced on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. on TNT. The seven reserve spots include three frontcourt players, two guards and two additional players regardless of position.
Herro has the strongest All-Star case among Heat players based on the combination of his play and availability this season.
Herro, who turned 25 on Jan. 20, entered Wednesday averaging career highs in points (24.1 per game), rebounds (5.6) and assists (5.4) while also shooting a career-best 47.4 percent from the field and a career-best 40 percent from three-point range on a career-high 9.7 three-point attempts per game while missing just one game this season.
Herro also entered Wednesday tied with Detroit’s Malik Beasley for second in the NBA in three-pointers made this season (171 made threes) behind only Minnesota’s Anthony Edwards (189 made threes).
In addition, Herro is one of only two players in the league who’s averaging at least 24 points, five rebounds and five assists per game while also shooting 45 percent or better from the field and 40 percent or better from behind the arc this season. The only other player in the NBA currently meeting those thresholds is three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets.
With New York’s Jalen Brunson and Cleveland’s Donovan Mitchell as the two Eastern Conference guards who were voted in as starters, among Herro’s top competition for one of the East’s All-Star guard reserve spots are Damian Lillard of the Milwaukee Bucks, Trae Young of the Atlanta Hawks, Cade Cunningham of the Detroit Pistons, Tyrese Maxey of the Philadelphia 76ers, Darius Garland of the Cavaliers, Tyrese Haliburton of the Indiana Pacers and LaMelo Ball of the Charlotte Hornets.
Among those seven East guards who are considered top candidates for an All-Star reserve spot this season, a maximum of four can make it. That means at least three of the guards on that list will be left out of the All-Star Game unless an injury replacement is needed.
Lillard, Maxey, Haliburton, Ball and Garland all entered Wednesday ranked ahead of Herro in estimated plus/minus this season.
“We’ll see, honestly,” Herro said of his All-Star chances. “It’s a great opportunity to be a part of. But if not, like I said before, there are a lot of great guards in the East who I think are well deserving as well as myself. So we’ll see what happens.”
In the voting for All-Star starters this season, Herro finished 10th in the fan vote, 10th in the player vote and eighth in the media vote among East guards.
Based on those results, Herro wouldn’t make the All-Star Game. But the reserves will be selected by head coaches, who have made it clear that they think highly of Herro based on the defensive attention they have sent his way this season.
“I feel like every single night, obviously they’re putting their best defender on me, but also putting a game plan together to ultimately take the ball out of my hands and stop me,” Herro said. “So, yeah, it is a sign of respect. But I think also the ultimate respect is for them to vote me into a game like that.”
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra doesn’t lobby for players to make the All-Star Game, noting “that’s just not my style.” But Spoelstra is optimistic that Herro will make the cut.
“I do think Tyler should be an All Star,” Spoelstra said. “His play speaks for itself. ... I’m hopeful the coaches vote him in. That’s the ultimate respect. Opposing teams have to game plan against him. You have to spend a good deal of time in shootarounds and film sessions developing some kind of specific plan for him. In January, he’s been the most trapped player on pick and rolls. That’s a sign of great respect. His off-ball movement, all of those things have really improved. I think it will happen. I do. His play has been that consistent.”
Herro hopes his coach is right.
“Being an All-Star is one of the things that I would love to accomplish while I’m in this league,” Herro said. “If it ain’t this year, it will be next year. If it ain’t next year, at some point we’re going to make it happen.”
Rising stars reaction
Despite being among the leading candidates for the NBA’s Rookie of the Year award this season, Heat center Kel’el Ware was not among the 28 players selected for this year’s Rising Stars showcase.
Rising Stars, which is the annual showcase of top first- and second-year NBA players and NBA G League standouts, will be played at 9 p.m. on Feb. 14 at Chase Center during All-Star Weekend. The pool of 28 players was announced Tuesday.
The fact that Ware played double-digit minutes in just two of the Heat’s first 25 games this season likely hurt his Rising Stars case. But there remains a chance that Ware could still be invited to the event as an injury replacement for Philadelphia 76ers rookie guard Jared McCain, who is out for the rest of the season with a knee injury but was still among those selected for Rising Stars.
“Yeah. But to some people, it’s a small sample size,” Heat center Bam Adebayo said when asked if he’s surprised that Ware wasn’t selected for Rising Stars. “But the guy has had a great impact. I don’t see a lot of other rookies doing what he’s done in a short period of time. Going from not playing to it’s almost 18 [points] and 10 [rebounds] every night. That to me is more impactful than a guy who’s starting and they’re not winning games.”
While Ware did not make the cut, the Heat will be represented in this year’s Rising Stars showcase by second-year forward Jaime Jaquez Jr.
Jaquez also took part in Rising Stars last year as a rookie. Dwyane Wade, Udonis Haslem, Michael Beasley, Herro and Jaquez are the only five Heat players who have been multitime selections for the Rising Stars showcase.
“It means a lot,” Jaquez said of making his second straight Rising Stars game. “Shout out to my teammates, coaches for helping me get there and making this all happen.”
Injury report
The Heat ruled out Jimmy Butler (team suspension), Josh Richardson (right heel inflammation), Dru Smith (left Achilles surgery) and Isaiah Stevens (G League) for Wednesday’s game against the Cavaliers.
The Cavaliers are without Darius Garland (rest), Caris LeVert (right wrist sprain), Isaac Okoro (right shoulder sprain), JT Thor (G League), Luke Travers (G League), Sam Merrill (illness) and Dean Wade (right knee bone bruise) for Wednesday’s game in Miami.
This story was originally published January 29, 2025 at 12:39 PM.
