After scoreless second half, reacclimation process continues for Heat’s Herro following return
After undergoing surgery on his left ankle in September and missing the first 17 games of the regular season, Miami Heat guard Tyler Herro knew it was going to take some time to find his footing.
It’s going to take some time for Herro to feel 100% after undergoing surgery on his ankle less than three months ago. Herro has a new issue, a right big toe irritation, that resulted in him being listed as questionable for Friday’s game in Orlando against the Magic (7 p.m., FanDuel Sports Sun).
It’s also going to take some time for Herro to find his place in a revamped Heat offense using the fewest screens and handoffs in the league this season. And it’s going to take some time for Herro to build chemistry with new teammates such as guard Norman Powell, who is nursing an ankle injury and also is questionable for Friday’s game.
“I feel good,” Herro said when asked how he feels physically after making his season debut last week. “Just got to keep it rolling day by day, like I said. It’s a long process of getting my foot back to where it was before the surgery.”
That process is going to come with ups and downs, and Wednesday night’s 118-108 loss to the Dallas Mavericks at American Airlines Center was one of the rough days for Herro and the Heat.
With Powell unavailable because of his sprained left ankle, Herro finished his fifth game of the season with 20 points on 8-of-17 shooting from the field, 2-of-7 shooting from three-point range and 2-of-2 shooting from the foul line, four rebounds, zero assists and two steals in 33 minutes on Wednesday.
But it’s when those points didn’t come that became the story, as Herro went scoreless on five field-goal attempts in the second half after totaling 20 points on 12 field-goal attempts in the first half.
“Just touching the ball. I didn’t really have the ball in the second half,” Herro said when asked what changed in the second half after his 20-point first half in Dallas.
Powell has led the Heat in points per game and usage rate (an estimate of the percentage of team plays used by a player while on the court) this season. But with Powell unavailable, the thinking was that Herro would take on a bigger offensive role against the Mavericks on Wednesday after leading the Heat in points per game and usage rate last season.
But after posting a team-high usage rate of 27.7% in Wednesday’s first half, Herro’s usage rate dipped to 14.3% in the second half. Herro’s second-half usage rate tied Simone Fontecchio for the fifth highest on the team Wednesday behind Bam Adebayo (36.4%), Andrew Wiggins (29.3%), Kel’el Ware (25.6%) and Jaime Jaquez Jr. (25%).
“No,” Herro, 25, said when asked if the Mavericks’ defense did anything differently in the second half to keep the ball away from him. “It just didn’t find me. It’s all good.”
Are nights like this just part of the reacclimation process for Herro?
“We’ll see,” Herro said, with the Heat (14-8) moving on to close its two-game trip on Friday against the Magic in Orlando.
When asked if the Heat needed to get the ball to Herro more often in Wednesday’s second half after his 20-point first half, Adebayo sidestepped the question.
“We’ll just figure it out, man,” Adebayo said, with seven Heat players currently averaging double-digit points per game this season. “We’re all playing well, so it’s hard to say somebody has the hot hand. But also we understand the kid can go get a bucket at any point in time. So just understanding that, that’s really the coach’s job. For us, it’s more sharing the game and figuring out how we can all get this ball game and a win.”
Heat guard Dru Smith added on Herro: “I think we just have to try to do a better job of making sure that we’re still getting him touches. We’re still finding him in the flow of the offense and getting him in spots where he can continue to impact the game. Obviously, he’s an unbelievable scorer, and so we definitely have to do a better job of just continuing to get him the ball.”
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra took some of the blame for Herro’s scoreless second half against the Mavericks.
“I probably could have done a better job getting the group organized to get him some space and places where he could operate,” Spoelstra said.
But there have also been good moments for Herro since making his season debut last week.
Herro is averaging an impressive 23.8 points per game while shooting 52.4% from the field and 15 of 31 (48.4%) on threes in his first five games of the season.
“I’m really encouraged by how he’s been able to fit in and really help us by him getting to his strengths,” Spoelstra said of Herro. “We can be so dynamic offensively with everybody healthy and reading the game appropriately. You need it against the very best teams.”
But the reacclimation period continues for Herro and the Heat, as do the ups and downs that come with it.
“We got a deep team,” said Herro, who was the Heat’s lone All-Star last season. “So it’s not just Norm. I’m playing with a bunch of great guys, great players on his team. It has been great for me and just getting back into the swing of things. And just looking forward to continuing to build the chemistry.”
All the while, the Herro extension question remains.
The Heat passed on signing Herro to an extension this past offseason, as he was eligible to sign an extension worth as much as $149.7 million with Miami. The window to sign such a deal opened on Oct. 1 and closed on Oct. 20.
“I mean, it’s going to figure itself out,” Herro said recently of not getting an extension from the Heat this past offseason. “I can play in this league, so I’m not worried about getting another contract.”
Herro still has one year left on his current contract after this season. He’s due $33 million for the 2026-27 season.
Herro’s next opportunity to sign an extension with the Heat will come next year, and that negotiating window will open July 1, 2026 and close on June 30, 2027. He’ll be eligible to sign an extension worth as much as $206.9 million through four seasons during that window and would become supermax eligible (five years, $380 million) if he’s selected for an All-NBA team this season.
If the Heat and Herro can’t agree to an extension by June 30, 2027, he would become an unrestricted free agent on July 1, 2027.
“I mean, it’s all I know,” Herro said of his desire to remain with the Heat past this current contract. “Got drafted here, it’s all I know as of right now. And just got to keep working and see what happens in the next six months.”
AVAILABILITY UPDATE
In addition to listing Herro and Powell as questionable for Friday’s game, the Heat listed Myron Gardner, Vlad Goldin and Kasparas Jakucionis as out because all have returned to the G League. Terry Rozier (not with team) also remains out for the Heat.
This story was originally published December 4, 2025 at 10:55 AM.
