Tyler Herro is talented, there's no doubt about it. He's got the swag, the attitude, and the gift. Unfortunately, what he doesn't have is durability. Health and availability — two key ingredients coaches and sports franchises covet. Health and availability are not something Herro has offered Erik Spoelstra and the Miami Heat.
Herro has already missed 19 games this season. Injuries have played a key role in his Heat career, and they have quite possibly stalled it from being much better than it has been. He is a very good offensive player, but his defense leaves all of Miami wanting, as does his health.
That's the problem — the main problem — the Heat live with in Herro, and as long as he is in Miami, they will continue to live with it, if history tells us anything. That said, they shouldn't be thinking about giving up on him, not yet, anyway.
Tyler Herro returns to lineup, but long-term health is the storyline
The Heat continued their disappointing month of December with another loss, this time to the Orlando Magic. It was an NBA Cup quarter-final match that ended in a 117-108 defeat, and it was also Herro's return to play after recovering from an injury.
Herro, to his credit, was solid despite going 0-6 from three. In 34 minutes, he tallied 20 points, seven rebounds, and three assists. Playing in 30+ minutes clearly indicated that Herro doesn't need any minutes restrictions, which bodes well for Miami going forward.
It also shows that he is at full strength, or at least appears to be. This is great news for the Heat, but how long it lasts is another thing. Herro has never played a full 82-game season in his NBA career. The closest he came to hitting that mark was last year, in fact, when he played in 77 games.
Prior to last season, though, Herro had missed double-digit games each season due to injuries, which officially qualifies him as injury-prone. When Herro is on the floor, he can win Miami a game if he's hot from the field, and especially if he's hot from long distance.
That said, at what point do the Heat come to grips with the fact that one of their best players — he's probably their second-best player behind Bam Adebayo — is on the sideline more than he is on the floor? Herro can defeat this narrative by playing the rest of the 2025-26 season healthy. The postseason window for Miami this year is wide open.
Herro, if healthy, can be an integral piece of a solid Heat playoff run. However, if this season turns into another typical injury-plagued one for Herro, the Heat may be forced to enter the dreaded place of having to move on. Not because they want to, but because they need to.