With the injury to Tyler Herro to start the 2025-26 season, the start of training camp for the Miami Heat has a bit of a dark cloud hanging around. Herro had foot surgery and is going to be out until at least November, potentially missing the gauntlet the Heat have for its first 20 games.
But while Miami was mostly quiet in the offseason, they did make one key move that has the potential to be the perfect fill-in while Herro gets healthy.
Norman Powell looks to draw on expirence from last season
When Miami went out and got Norman Powell from the Los Angeles Clippers, the conversation was how Powell and Herro were going to pair together, given some similarities in their respective games.
But now that Herro is on the mend, Powell is going to be thrust into the role of being the primary scorer with the Heat. The good news is that he can draw on his experience with the Clippers and needing to step up once Kawhi Leonard went down last season:
"The approach and everything is the same. It's a similar situation that I was in last year with Kawhi being out and having to step in, step up, and provide not only leadership but great play on the floor."
Powell has been around for a long time, but it was last year that his game took a notable leap, with a career-high 21.8 points per game off 41.8% shooting from three-point range.
In a lot of ways, if Powell can maintain that level of play for the first month of the season, he has the ability to essentially slot right into Herro's role and give the Heat just enough spark to somehow make it through the first 20 games of the season.
But what about when Herro does come back and Miami has two players who fill similar roles?
Herro doesn't seem too concerned about that and likes the flexibility that Powell brings:
"I think it's going to be an easy transition, an easy fit. I've always been a fan of Norm's game, and then he's a guy who's played with a lot of good players, a lot of great players, and he can fit in anywhere."
Miami is going to need both versions of Powell if it is going to take a step forward in 2025-26, but if they do get both versions, Miami could morph into a sleeper team this season.