MIAMI – When the Miami Heat departed for their just-completed three-game trip, the team said at the time there was a chance sidelined forward Andrew Wiggins could rejoin it along the way.
Instead, with the Heat back at Kaseya Center on Thursday night against the Memphis Grizzlies for the start of a three-game homestand, Wiggins remained sidelined with the hamstring issue that now has had him out since last Thursday’s home victory over the Atlanta Hawks
Wiggins, acquired in the February 6 NBA trading deadline deal with the Golden State Warriors for Jimmy Butler, now, including Thursday night, has missed 13 of the 28 games since his arrival.
The Heat’s homestand continues with a Saturday night game against the Milwaukee Bucks and a Monday night game against the Philadelphia 76ers.
In addition, the Heat also announced Thursday afternoon that guard Terry Rozier was unavailable due to gastroenteritis. After a solid performance in Monday night’s victory over the Washington Wizards, Rozier did not play in Wednesday night’s victory over the Boston Celtics. Rozier on Monday night filled in for guard Davion Mitchell, who was sidelined by a stomach issue for that game, before returning with a solid effort in Wednesday night’s victory over the Boston Celtics at TD Garden.
Those absences of Wiggins and Rozier come with the Heat also without Nikola Jovic (broken hand), Kevin Love (personal reasons) and Dru Smith (season-ending Achilles surgery).
The Heat, however, did add reinforcements during the just-completed trip, with Josh Christopher, Keshad Johnson and Isaiah Stevens returning from the G league with the completion of the Sioux Falls Skyforce season.
Amid the absence of Wiggins, the Heat have gotten recent upgraded play from rookie second-round pick Pelle Larsson, veteran shooting specialist Alec Burks and veteran wing Kyle Anderson..
“We depend on everybody,” center Bam Adebayo said of the team’s depth beyond himself and guard Tyler Herro. “It’s not just me and Tyler out there hooping. It’s all of us. Guys check in, we believe in them to go out there. If we’re up 10, we want them to push it to 15. When they check in, we want them to come in locked in and ready to go.”
Anderson the confidence from the team leaders is palpable.
“There’s not a team where we’re like, ‘We’re scared of them, we don’t want to play them,’ ” Anderson said. “I think we can compete with anybody. We’ve shown that. And the most important time of the year is coming up in two weeks, so we’ll see.”
Following this three-game homestand, the Heat will have three games remaining, next week on the road against the Chicago Bulls and New Orleans Pelicans, and then the April 13 regular-season finale against the Wizards.
From there, the Heat will begin postseason play in the play-in round either on April 15 or April 16.
Scholarship time
The Heat designated Thursday night’s halftime for the announcement of their 2025 Heat Scholarship winners.
Presented by Netspend and The Miami Heat Charitable Fund, $50,000 in scholarships are to high school seniors attending schools in Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach. The scholarships include three $10,000 Heat Scholarships, one $10,000 Dr. Jack Ramsay Scholarship, and one $10,000 Alec Kessler Student-Athlete Scholarship.
In their 29th year, the Heat Scholarships are awarded ...
