How big of an issue is Gabe Vincent’s knee for Miami Heat?

The Miami Heat are back on the floor Tuesday to begin what can be considered a “light week” for them entering the Christmas Holiday.

With a jam-packed schedule in December thus far, playing nine games in a 15-day stretch between their first game of the month on the 2nd and their last game on the 17th, this week should be a great chance to rest and get a couple more victories for a Heat squad looking to solidify some things.

Speaking of solidifying some things though, cementing stability if you will, there is one particular situation surrounding the Miami Heat that seems shakier than not. When you look at Gabe Vincent and a lingering knee issue that has bothered him a ton this season, what is there to think of it?

Being ruled out for their Tuesday contest against Chicago, this will be Vincent’s 13th missed game of the season.

The Miami Heat are trying to keep streaking on Tuesday and that means beating Chicago. They won’t have Gabe Vincent though, still dealing with a knee issue.

Tuesday’s absence will actually make it Vincent’s 8th missed game in a row.

While no one here is a doctor, claiming to be, or has that aspiration, there is a history of sports factor that comes into play here. Typically, when a player has tried to play through an injury of this sort, the team was waiting for him to “heal”, “respond to treatment”, they were “managing the pain”, or some other often used cliche.

However, what that often has meant was trying to see if said injury could be healed through “management” and then eventually elongated rest if need be. That, again, has seemed to be Vincent’s path, as he was in and out of the lineup for a while and has now been just out over a stretch.

But speaking back toward the “history of sports” or injury, you have to wonder if that is it, if that will “work”, and what if it doesn’t? Because he has been out for a while, spotty before that, and not as effective when playing this season as well, you wonder if there might eventually be further action taken for the lingering injury?

Who knows and you wouldn’t dare prognosticate any further than the subtle implications being made, but there is one thing that is undeniable here. Vincent’s elongated absence, spottiness from an availability and effectiveness perspective, and the history of how these things tend to go—are all definitely cause to be concerned.