It was already understandable to be quite bullish about the Miami Heat's chances this season. The injury to Tyler Herro may have just ended the Heat's long-shot chances before the year even began.
If the Heat were going to emerge as a competitive team in the Eastern Conference this season, things were almost going to have to fall perfectly for the team. That means they needed to get off to a strong start, they needed to remain healthy, and they needed a few unexpected young players to take big strides in their development.
The injury to Herro, even if he only misses a month or two of the season, all but eliminates any outside chance the Heat had of proving the naysayers wrong this year.
Tyler Herro's injury is devastating
Herro is expected to miss a couple of months after undergoing a foot/ankle procedure. Some projections have him missing roughly a month of the season. That equals out to about 15ish games. Without the best offensive player in the lineup, it's hard to imagine how the Heat is going to offset this loss and get off to a strong start.
And that's even assuming Herro only misses a month of the season. If he missed more, it could get pretty ugly very quickly for the Heat.
Miami was already entering this season with some big questions on the offensive end of the floor. Losing Duncan Robinson was already going to make life difficult for the Heat on the perimeter. Now losing Herro for at least a month, and life offensively is going to get even more impossible for Miami.
Sure, it may be a huge overreaction, but I'm not sure how this Heat team, which was already at a disadvantage with Herro in the lineup, is supposed to survive the first few weeks of the season without him.
Last year, the Heat were a bottom-10 team in offensive rating. It's hard to imagine how they're going to be better this season without their best offensive player to start off the year.
I suppose there's an argument to be made that Norman Powell could help offset the loss, but that could be way too much pressure to put on his shoulders right off the bat.
In theory, the Heat's season isn't over yet. Especially if Herro only misses a month. But it's pretty clear that this injury is not going to do them any favors, and the already thin margin for error just got even smaller.
This Herro injury news is absolutely devastating for the Heat.