Heat takes injury-depleted roster to Cleveland for game vs. Cavs. Also, Pelle Larsson shines
Despite having just nine available players, the Miami Heat had enough to defeat the team with the NBA’s worst record on Monday. Now, the short-handed Heat will find out if it has enough to beat the team with the league’s best record.
After defeating the struggling Washington Wizards 106-90 on Monday night at Kaseya Center, the injury-depleted Heat travels to take on the league-leading Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday at Rocket Arena (7 p.m., FanDuel Sports Network Sun and ESPN).
Jaime Jaquez Jr. (right ankle sprain), Nikola Jovic (broken right hand), Kel’el Ware (left knee sprain) and Andrew Wiggins (right ankle sprain) all remain out for the Heat against the Cavaliers after recently sustaining injuries. Dru Smith (left Achilles surgery), Jaquez, Jovic, Ware and Wiggins did not travel with the team to Cleveland for the single-game trip.
It will mark the third game in a row that Jaquez has missed since turning his ankle early in the second half of Friday’s win against the Indiana Pacers. Jaquez left that game after hurting his ankle and didn’t return, with X-rays returning negative.
It will mark the sixth game in a row that Jovic has missed with his broken hand. He’s set to be re-evaluated in three weeks.
It will mark the second straight game that Ware has sat out since spraining his knee during a collision with New York Knicks center Mitchell Robinson late in the third quarter of Sunday’s loss. Ware said Monday that an MRI on his injured knee showed no structural damage.
It will mark the fourth game in a row that Wiggins has missed with his sprained ankle after turning it early in last Wednesday’s win over the Atlanta Hawks. Wiggins was able to play on the ankle and finish last Wednesday’s contest, but he has not played since that game.
With four rotation regulars (Jaquez, Jovic, Ware and Wiggins) out on Wednesday, the Heat is calling on reinforcements to add depth.
Undrafted rookies Keshad Johnson and Isaiah Stevens, who have been playing the G League as part of their developmental work, are expected to be available for the Heat against the Cavaliers.
There’s also a chance that two-way contract guard Josh Christopher will join the Heat in Cleveland for Wednesday’s contest after playing for the Heat’s G League affiliate, the Sioux Falls Skyforce, on Tuesday night.
The good news for the Heat is starting guard Davion Mitchell traveled with the team to Cleveland and has been upgraded to questionable for Wednesday’s game after missing Monday’s win over the Wizards because of a left quadriceps contusion.
If Jaquez, Jovic, Smith, Ware and Wiggins are the only players out Wednesday, the Heat will end up with 13 available players against the Cavaliers.
While the Heat has dropped seven of its last 11 games, stands two games under the .500 mark and sits in seventh place in the Eastern Conference, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra is encouraged by the team’s recent play in the wake of last month’s Jimmy Butler trade.
“We have a lot of different chapters of this season,” Spoelstra said. “But if you just take this segment with the change, there’s a lot more good things — and I love the expectations of this franchise and this city right now. But we also understand that there is a process to this and there’s some damn good things happening. We’ve had some heartbreaking losses. But within some of those losses, you see some great basketball being played and some really good habits that are being built in a short period of time.”
NEXT MAN UP
With only nine available players for Monday’s win over the Wizards, Heat rookie Pelle Larsson took advantage of a rare opportunity to play extended minutes.
After playing just 43 seconds over the Heat’s previous six games, Larsson finished Monday’s victory with a career-high 16 points to go with four rebounds and five assists in 28 minutes off the bench. The Heat outscored the Wizards by 13 points with Larsson on the court.
“We knew we would need some kind of energy, spark from somebody and we talked about that’s the challenge. Who’s going to bring it?” Spoelstra said after the short-handed Heat’s win on Monday. “And tonight we definitely felt Pelle. He brought that energy, brought that extra oomph that carried over to everybody else.
“And in some swing moments of the game, he just seemed to have his imprint with the deflections, the steals, the timely cuts, all of that. He’s had some bottled up energy. He’s a competitor, he wants to be out there, he feels like he can help and he gave us some really productive minutes tonight. That was inspiring.”
Larsson, 24, has stayed ready for in-game opportunities by playing one-on-one and two-on-two games with Heat teammates “to try to get my conditioning up.”
“He’s tenacious behind the scenes,” Spoelstra said of Larsson. “That’s why he’s able to stay ready, he puts in so much time. It’s two or three workouts a day. You have to kick him out of the gym. But he wants to continue to improve. He wants to find ways where he can help. His energy, his defense, his toughness, he puts his face in there on everything. That’s a great start and then we’ll figure it out.”
Larsson, who was selected by the Heat with the 44th overall pick in the second round of the 2024 Draft, has found himself in and out of Miami’s rotation during his rookie season. He has already played double-digit minutes in 25 games, but has also received 18 DNP-CDs (did not play, coach’s decision) this season.
Despite the inconsistent playing time, the Heat’s coaching staff has been pleased with Larsson’s progress in the team’s player development program. He’s averaging 11.3 points, 4.3 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.1 steals per 36 minutes while shooting 46.2 percent from the field and 33.3 percent on threes this season.
“Really encouraged about that because he understands what his role is,” Spoelstra added. “He came in as a role player, an elite role player in college on a very good basketball team. And some people view that as a negative. We viewed it as a real positive and somebody who also has upside still because of his work ethic.”
Larsson doesn’t view the label of “elite role player” as a negative either.
“I don’t care,” Larsson said. “I think you can be a great player and still play a role. You got however many guys, everybody is going to have a role. So whatever.”
This story was originally published March 4, 2025 at 2:53 PM.
