Heat long injury list grows, with Jimmy Butler ruled out vs. Wizards and likely rest of trip

The Miami Heat’s injury list is long, very long.

The Heat will have to play without Bam Adebayo (left knee contusion), Jimmy Butler (right knee soreness) and Tyler Herro (left ankle sprain) in Friday night’s game against the Washington Wizards at Capital One Arena.

While Adebayo also missed Wednesday’s loss to the Toronto Raptors and Herro will sit out his sixth straight game Friday, Butler is new to the injury list. Butler recorded a season-low 13 points on 4-of-8 shooting from the field, one rebound and five assists in 38 minutes on Wednesday in Toronto.

“It’s been bothering him for two or three games,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said of Butler, who also missed two games earlier this season because left hip tightness. “So we’ll give him some rest right right now and just treat him day-to-day. I don’t have a timeline on that. But he certainly needs a little bit more mobility than how he was moving the last two of three games.”

Spoelstra said he never thought about pulling Butler from Wednesday’s loss to the Raptors because “you’re not telling Jimmy in the heart of competition. He’s going for the win, and we had those opportunities at the end. And he was loose at that point.”

Butler is expected to return to Miami on Saturday, which means he’ll miss the rest of the Heat’s four-game trip that continues on Sunday against the Cleveland Cavaliers and wraps up on Monday against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

The Heat’s injury report includes more than half of the Heat’s roster.

In addition to Adebayo, Butler and Herro, Dewayne Dedmon, Udonis Haslem, Victor Oladipo, Duncan Robinson, Gabe Vincent and Omer Yurtseven will also miss Friday’s game.

That left the Heat with just seven available players against the Wizards, but Vincent will be in uniform and made active just to get Miami to the NBA-required minimum of eight players to play the game.

Adebayo’s absence for a second straight game looms especially large because of his importance. The Heat has outscored opponents by 6.9 points per 100 possessions this with Adebayo on the court, but has been outscored by 13.8 points when Adebayo hasn’t been on the court this season.

“Great players are always very irreplaceable on any team,” Spoelstra said. “Bam is a great player. He’s a great winner. He impact that line of winning and he does it on both ends. So of course there’s going to be an impact for us. Right now we’re not trying to wrap our mind around winning 20 games without him. We have enough to be able to win one game. And that’s all we’re focused on right now, and then we can move on from there.”

Robinson (right hand sprain) and Vincent (left knee effusion) were added to the Heat’s injury report and ruled out just hours before tipoff on Friday afternoon.

Robinson got one of his fingers caught in another player’s jersey during the team’s morning shootaround Friday and hurt his hand. Friday marked the first game in Robinson’s NBA career that he missed because of an injury.

Vincent also took part in the team’s morning shootaround on Friday, but his knee swelled up in the hours before the game.

The Heat also remains without Haslem (personal reasons), Oladipo (left knee tendinosis) and Yurtseven (left ankle surgery). Dedmon was also ruled out because of a non-COVID illness.

Among the Heat’s seven available players for Friday’s game, three are rookies in Jamal Cain, Nikola Jovic and Orlando Robinson. Cain and Robinson, who went undrafted this year, are Miami’s two two-way contract players.

“This is where you can make a name for yourself, make a career for yourself,” Heat forward Max Strus said. “Opportunities like this can open doors. If it’s not for us, there are 29 other teams watching. If I was a young guy on a two-way or just haven’t played that much, I would look at this as a great opportunity.”

LOWRY MINUTES

Through all of the Heat’s injury issues during the first month of the season, Lowry has served as a stabilizing force in part because of his availability.

The 36-year-old Lowry entered Friday’s matchup against the Wizards with a team-high 530 minutes logged this season. Next on that list is Strus at 496 minutes.

“He played really well for us last year, particularly before he had to leave [for personal reasons] and then before the injury [in the playoffs],” Spoelstra said of Lowry. “But he was pivotal in our success last year. He just brought a lot of cerebral play, point guard play to our group. It’s exactly what that group needed and he’s doing a lot of the same this year.”