1 player Heat must trade in 2024 NBA offseason

Herro has spent five seasons with Miami and has blossomed into an explosive shot creator and even a decent playmaker. However, his play has been streaky, especially with steep competition in the postseason where he struggled a lot against the Boston Celtics except for a great performance in Game 2.

On the other hand, he was inserted as the main guy to lead the offense without the likes of Butler and even Terry Rozier who were out with injury. As a whole, Herro played 42 games this season which marked an injury-riddled season that sparked a blunt response from Riley calling Herro “fragile.”

“He’s been fragile, a little bit,” Riley said. “He broke his hand last year in the playoffs. He had some injuries earlier in his career. And there isn’t anybody that works harder at his game. He works. He puts the time in, in the weight room. So how does he keep his calorie intake? So he might have to go to another level nutritionally. He’s gotten stronger. But as the season progresses, you lose some of that. So he’s got to make some adjustments, definitely.”

“His major injuries are real,” Riley continued. “And so, we’re just hoping we can get through a season where he’s playing in that 72- to 82-game basis. Maybe one year he will surprise and play every game.”

Riley mentioned Heat should embrace change

Part of that change Riley mentioned was player availability and looking into the injury issue that has plagued the Heat for the past few seasons. Also, part of that change could be the team adapting when they lose players whether it be through free agency or through trade.

“Until you change the way you go about doing the things that are necessary to win, whatever they are, those things you’re doing to try to win, if they aren’t working, you must change,” Riley said. “And so that doesn’t mean that change is a sinister word here. There’s a lot of elements to go into a culture, erosion of a culture, being together for 30 years, generational change, problems in the NBA that our league wide when it comes to health, comes to players missing games and availability.

“You take a look at all the the young sort of up and coming they haven’t tasted it yet; OKC, Minnesota, Indiana, Boston with a new group, Orlando, etc, etc. You know, for some reason these guys are playing 70-80 games,” Riley continued. “It’s a feeling more than anything else. But that’s definitely a deep dive for us this summer and to player availability but so we do have to change some things. But we surely are not going to rip anything apart here.”

How Heat will use Herro if still with Miami

In terms of the University of Kentucky product, he has three seasons left on his contract, including $29 million for next season. Herro still has yet to prove if he can be a leading player on a team, but could be a solid No. 2 option elsewhere if Miami deals him for a star.

If Herro does stay on the team though, there will be discussions about he is used while there have been fans saying he should come off the bench, Riley disagrees with that notion, even if it was repeated by former Heat player Udonis Haslem. Riley even disputed that statement during his end of season press conference where he said plainly that he is a starter in this league.

“That’s a narrative that’s out there, that everybody who has that narrative knows more than I do. They must know more than I do, to say that about Tyler,” Riley said. “Tyler’s a starter.”

It will be interesting to see if the Heat keep Herro for his sixth season so he can once again prove the doubters wrong about the team’s faith in him. If so, it’s almost a make or break season for the 24-year old come the start of the next season.