There is no positive way to spin the crushing news, reported by Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald, that Miami Heat All-Star guard Tyler Herro is undergoing surgery on his left foot and ankle. Early estimates have him missing roughly the first month of the upcoming campaign, but those are, at best, educated guesses.
This is a massive setback for a team that, frankly, already wasn't expected to do much this season. If there's a silver lining to all of this, though, it's the chance for other, lesser-known players on this roster to step up in Herro's absence and handle bigger opportunities than they would have otherwise received.
While the Heat will likely take an egalitarian approach to replacing Herro, Davion Mitchell might see as big of a bump — in playing time and offensive opportunities — as anyone. And if he does, Miami fans will find out for sure just how much of his late-season surge was actually sustainable.
Mitchell impressed after his deadline trade to the Heat last season, but he was having a forgettable career before that.
Mitchell looked like merely a throw-in when he was added to the five-team trade that finally shipped out Jimmy Butler in February. By that point, Mitchell, the No. 9 pick in the 2021 draft, appeared to be running on fumes as far as his NBA career was concerned. While he had proved himself to be a plucky, disruptive defender, his offensive limitations appeared too great for him to handle anything more than an energizer-reserve role.
From nearly the second he landed in South Florida, though, everything suddenly clicked.
His three-balls started falling, his playmaking perked up, and his point production reached solid-support-scorer levels. Statistically speaking, he averaged 10.3 points in 31.6 minutes, converting 50.4 percent of his field goals and 44.7 percent of his perimeter shots. He also dished out 5.3 assists against just 1.7 turnovers.
And, unlike most of his new teammates, he actually managed to pick things up during the playoffs. Granted, you don't want to read too much into any four-game sample, but he still aced his first-round test against the 64-win Cleveland Cavaliers by averaging 15 points on 61 percent shooting (50 percent from deep) and 6.3 assists against 2.0 turnovers.
In other words, he took less than three months to seemingly transform himself from a trade throw-in into an obvious steal. Miami then literally bought into his mini-breakout by giving him a two-year, $24 million deal just before he entered restricted free agency.
The Heat clearly have hope for Mitchell sustaining this success, but there's also a reason they didn't fork over a blank check. He had never even approached this level of productivity before. The closest he came was during his rookie season with the 2021-22 Sacramento Kings (11.5 points and 4.2 assists in 27.7 minutes), but even then, he was just a 41.8 percent shooter overall and 31.6 percent shooter from range.
So, what exactly is he at this point? The latest success story from Miami's famed reclamation program, or a flash-in-the-pan who will inevitably turn back into a shot-clanging pumpkin?
The Heat will soon find out. Herro's absence and the role expansion it will give to Mitchell leave them no other choice.