It's become quite obvious that the Miami Heat and Tyler Herro have quietly started to grow apart from each other, and it's difficult to envision how that's going to change now. It's a dilemma that both the Heat and Herro must figure out how to resolve over the next couple of months.
They say the heart grows fonder with absence. For the Heat, there's an argument to be made that they've finally begun to realize what they don't need with Herro out for the majority of the first half of this season.
With Norman Powell pretty much filling the Herro role this season, the Heat should have realized they can have the production of Herro at a fraction of the price.
Sure, there are situations where Herro's skill set offers much more to the table than what Powell can bring, especially at this point in his career. However, would the Heat's offense look much better with Herro instead of Powell right now?
No.
Ultimately, that's what this all comes down to.
Without Herro, the Heat have been just fine. And it's this growth that the team has found through the first half of this season that could point to a potential divorce with Herro in the not-so-distant future.
What does the Heat do now?
It's hard to envision the Heat trading Herro at this year's NBA Trade Deadline. For one, this front office is overly clingy to its homegrown talent, and it wouldn't be ideal to trade Herro in an injury-plagued season.
But you can't help but wonder what the plan is for Herro beyond this season.
A big part of that is going to be how he plays once he's finally integrated back into the offense. The hope is that he can put this most recent toe injury behind him soon and return to the lineup for the Heat.
That's the best-case scenario for all sides involved.
The true test of where he lies within the Heat's future is going to be in how the team performs once he's back healthy. If this team continues to struggle to fit all the pieces together, as they did the few times they were completely healthy earlier this season, it's only going to raise even more red flags about the direction of the team's build.
And with Herro in line for a contract extension soon, the clock is ticking for the Heat to make a definitive decision on his future.
The Heat and Herro may finally be moving in different directions. It's slowly becoming clearer by every passing game. The question is, does the front office realize that yet or not? And, if so, what will that mean for how they will operate over these next few months?