Tyler Herro available for Miami Heat in Game 5 of NBA Finals

The Miami Heat have officially activated guard Tyler Herro for Game 5 of the NBA Finals, the team announced.

Herro fractured his hand in Game 1 of Miami’s first-round series against the Milwaukee Bucks on April 16. He underwent surgery less than a week later on April 21. Herro has been working to get back into the court ever since.

With the Heat being the 8-seed in the East, many believed Herro’s season was over but thanks to the Heat’s miraculous run to the finals, the former Kentucky star will return to the lineup on Monday night. Miami ran through the Bucks in five games — a NBA Finals favorite when the playoffs began — the New York Knicks in six and the Boston Celtics in a thrilling game-seven series.

He was seen doing shoot around for the Heat on Sunday during practice, and one day later ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski revealed that Herro was upgraded to “questionable,” earlier in the day. Wojnarowski also reported that Herro still has discomfort in his right hand but hopes to manage it and play tonight.

During the regular season, Herro averaged 20.1 points per game on 44 percent shooting including 38 percent from three-point range, along with 5.4 rebounds and 4.2 assists. Even without his scoring prowess, the Heat have arguably been better than they were without him.

It seems the Heat are rushing the process a bit more than they would in a normal situation. With their backs against the wall in hostile territory for Game 5, Miami will need all the help they can get even if Herro hasn’t played in a full playoff game this year.

“He’s ready to go. He’ll be available and we all appreciate everything he’s done behind the scenes to put him in this position, and then we’ll just see,” Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra said. “It’s all hands on deck. We’ll go with our normal rotation and see what happens from there.”

As far as Herro’s role for Game 5: “We’ll see,” Spoelstra said.

Tip-off between the Miami Heat and Denver Nuggets is set for 8:30 p.m. ET live on ABC. The Heat trail Denver 3-1 in the series, and are eight-point underdogs (per Caesars Sportsbook) heading into what could be the final game of the 2023 NBA season.

If the Heat pull off a win tonight, the series will head back to Miami for Game 6 on Thursday.