After sitting out the Miami Heat’s first 17 games of the 2025-26 regular season, guard Tyler Herro made his season debut against the Dallas Mavericks on Monday. He pretty much picked up where he left off after enjoying a career year last season as well, showing no obvious signs of rust.
Herro led the Heat in scoring with 24 points after a stellar performance, shooting 12-of-18 from the floor. But despite his impressive performance in his return to the fold, Herro made it clear that he is still rehabbing. He even said he could have waited another two weeks to come back.
“I still have a long way to go,” Herro said. “I will still be in rehab, recovery.
“I could have easily waited another two weeks to come back. But I’m healthy enough to be out there and I want to be out there, so that was the most important thing for me.”
The former University of Kentucky star was sidelined for a while to start the season for the Heat due to ankle surgery. Herro had surgery back in September and apparently needed some time to recover from that surgery before he was ready to play.
Herro’s scoring helped extend the Heat’s current winning streak to five games, as Miami beat Dallas by a final score of 106-102. The win was also Miami’s 12th of the season compared to just six losses, and the team is currently ranked No. 3 in the Eastern Conference.
It should be interesting to see how Miami’s offense fares in the coming weeks now that such a lethal weapon on the end is back. It’s worth noting that Herro was arguably the Heat’s best offensive player last season, averaging career highs of 23.9 points and 5.5 assists per game.
There’s a real possibility that a Heat offense that already looked like a well-oiled machine without Herro will be even more lethal now that he’s back on the court.
Hopefully, Herro will build on his scoring performance on Monday when the Heat take on the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday in the NBA Finals. Milwaukee has been in turmoil of late as the team is on a five-game losing streak and has fallen all the way to 11th in the Eastern Conference.