Another Heat rotation player lands on injury list. And Herro updates situation with ankle

Off an 0-4 road trip and now four games under. 500, the Heat will remain significantly short-handed when it returns home to play Washington on Wednesday and Friday at FTX Arena.

The Heat listed Jimmy Butler, Max Strus, Victor Oladipo, Duncan Robinson and Omer Yurtseven as out for Wednesday. [Update: the Heat changed Strus’ status to questionable on Tuesday night.]

Tyler Herro, Dewayne Dedmon and Gabe Vincent were listed as questionable.

Strus is the latest to join the injury report; he played all four games of the road trip but is now questionable with a right shoulder impingement.

Butler has missed three consecutive games with knee soreness but exams did not reveal anything serious. Vincent has issued three games in a row with left knee swelling.

Oladipo hasn’t played this season. Robinson will miss his second game in a row with a sprained left ankle.

Herro has been out since Nov. 7, missing eight consecutive games with a sprained left ankle.

At his second-annual Thanksgiving turkey giveaway in Miami Gardens on Tuesday, Herro said the injury has not totally healed.

But “it’s doing better,” he said. “I should be able to return soon, whether it’s this week or next couple games.”

Asked if he feels pain or limited mobility, Herro said: “It’s mobility, a little bit of both. It’s something I don’t want to be dealing with the rest of the year. I want to get to a place where I can return and I don’t have to worry about missing more games due to the foot.

“I do obviously want to be out thee but it’s a long season but I don’t want to come back for something now and miss later in the year.”

So is Wednesday unlikely? “I wouldn’t say that. Not sure. We’ll see. Hopefully. We’ll see.”

Later in the day, the Heat listed him as questionable for Wednesday.

Herro remains hopeful Miami can climb out of its 7-11 hole that has left the Heat 12th in the Eastern Conference.

“I felt like we were getting on track before this road trip,” he said. “Won three in a row before the trip. With me going out, Jimmy going out, it’s not easy. We’ll see as we get guys back how we continue to get better and put ourselves in a better spot.”

Six Heat players - Butler, Herro, Vincent, Oladipo, Bam Adebayo and Duncan Robinson - have missed time over the past two weeks due to either ankle or knee injuries.

Adebayo is now back.

“At some point, hopefully we’ll be getting some guys back,” Erik Spoelstra said. “Even if they’re not fully 100 percent, even if they’re close enough, maybe they can give us a little bit of reinforcement, even if it’s just short minutes.”

Meanwhile, Washington is listing guard Bradley Beal as questionable for Wednesday with a thigh contusion. And Rui Hachimura (ankle) and Monte Morris (ankle) also are questionable.

THIS AND THAT

Herro has done good work with his charitable foundation, including giving out 400 turkeys at a local church on Tuesday.

“It means a lot to get inside the community,” he said. “It hasn’t been an easy year for a lot of people. Just wanted to show my face as I have been around the holiday events and give back

as much as I can…

“There’s a lot of communities that are less fortunate and when you get to Miami and get around the community, [you] start realizing things like that,” noting the importance of “guys like me, Bam, UD [Udonis Haslem], Spo, some of the coaching staff getting into the community and showing we’re a part of the same community you guys live in. We just want to be able to give back. It means a lot.”

Adebayo held his own annual turkey giveaway in Liberty City on Tuesday afternoon.

▪ The Heat, exploring the power forward market, recently inquired about Utah’s Jarred Vanderbilt, according to heavycom.com.

Vanderbilt, a second round pick of the Orlando Magic in 2018, was acquired in June in the Rudy Gobert trade with Minnesota and is averaging 7.9 points and 8.5 rebounds.

But Vanderbilt is cheap (due $4.3 million this season and $4.6 million next season) and it’s difficult to envision the Jazz giving him away for modest assets.

▪ The Heat’s determination to avoid the onerous “repeater” tax isn’t the only incentive to potentially dissuade the Heat from signing a 15th player even though it could use one. Keep in mind that by staying under the tax line, Miami will pocket an additional $17 million. (Non-tax teams are given money paid by tax teams.).

The Heat, which is $200,000 under the tax, can’t add a 15th player and stay under the tax until late March.

▪ Defense is one reason why Spoelstra has bypassed using Nikola Jovic late in close games.

Though this is only one barometer of defensive performance, Jovic ranks worst on the Heat in field goal percentage against the player he’s matched up with.

The player defended by Jovic is shooting 61.5 percent against him (40 for 65). Those same players are shooting 49.5 percent overall.

Among other Heat power rotation players, players defended by Adebayo are shooting 48.4 (higher than past years) and players defended by Dewayne Dedmon are shooting 52.7 percent.

Asked why he played Jamal Cain over Jovic late in Monday’s loss to Minnesota, Spoelstra said it was actually a decision between Cain and Haywood Highsmith and defense factored into that.