Heat’s injury list grows with Butler out again, Highsmith doubtful for Monday vs. Clippers

At this point, the Miami Heat’s top New Year’s resolution entering 2024 should simply be to get healthy.

That’s because the Heat’s season-long injury issues continue to get worse instead of better, as Jimmy Butler and Haywood Highsmith both left Saturday night’s 117-109 road loss to the Utah Jazz early with injuries. The defeat snapped a four-game winning streak and dropped the Heat to 1-1 on its five-game West Coast trip.

“That’s the game,” Heat guard Tyler Herro said when asked whether Butler and Highsmith’s early departures affected the Heat down the stretch of Saturday’s loss. “We had enough to get it done. We won four straight before that. So that’s not an excuse. We should have won the game.”

Takeaways from road loss to Jazz, as Heat’s injury and fourth-quarter issues continue

Butler, who is considered by most to be the Heat’s best player, played Saturday after missing the previous four games with a strained left calf. But he couldn’t finish the game, exiting with 6:18 left in the third quarter because of a right foot injury and not returning.

A woozy Highsmith, who has been a consistent part of the Heat’s rotation when healthy, was helped to the locker room with 37.8 seconds left in Saturday’s fourth quarter after taking a hard blow to the head/neck area during a collision with Jazz guard Collin Sexton.

“We’ve been in situations like this before. We’ve had guys out,” Heat center Bam Adebayo said, with the team now in Los Angeles to continue its West Coast swing on Monday against the Clippers at Crypto.com Arena (10:30 p.m., Bally Sports Sun) before taking on the Lakers on Wednesday. “For us, we have a deep bench. I feel like we can win any game with whoever is out there. Everybody knows the system, everybody’s locked in and we believe in one another.”

The Heat will continue to need that depth, as Butler was formally ruled out for Monday’s game against the Clippers with what is being listed by the team as right foot irritation.

And Highsmith is listed as doubtful with a jaw contusion. It appears he avoided a concussion from the incident.

Butler finished Saturday’s loss with eight points on 2-of-3 shooting from the field and 4-of-4 shooting from the foul line, two rebounds, one assist and one block in 23 minutes before leaving the game early. After committing a foul during a collision with Sexton, Butler grimaced and slowly walked to the Heat’s bench before heading to the locker room.

X-rays on Butler’s injured foot returned negative and there’s cautious optimism that he avoided a significant injury. Whether Butler receives an MRI on his foot will depend on how he’s feeling in the coming days, but an MRI has not been needed yet.

With Butler’s foot injury keeping him out of Saturday’s fourth quarter, the Jazz outscored the Heat 29-21 in the final period to turn a tie game at the start of the quarter into an eight-point victory.

“I don’t think that it had an effect,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said of not having Butler available for the final quarter. “I mean, obviously, we want him out there, but we had our opportunities. That would discredit what Utah did in the second half. “

The injuries to Butler and Highsmith are the continuation of a concerning trend for the Heat. Even before Butler and Highsmith left Saturday’s loss early, the Heat was already missing a chunk of its rotation because of injuries.

The Heat could again be without a handful of rotation players on Monday against the Clippers. On top of Butler being ruled out and Highsmith being listed as doubtful, Caleb Martin (right ankle sprain) is listed as doubtful, and Kyle Lowry (head contusion) and Josh Richardson (low back facet syndrome) are listed as questionable.

In addition, Dru Smith (season-ending right knee surgery) remains out.

To help provide reinforcement, Orlando Robinson and Cole Swider are scheduled to re-join the Heat in Los Angeles for Monday’s matchup against the Clippers after a brief stint in the G League with the Sioux Falls Skyforce.

How bad has it been for Miami? The Heat entered Sunday with the fourth-most missed games due to injury in the NBA this season at 98 games, according to Spotrac’s injury tracker.

The three teams with more missed games than the Heat — the Memphis Grizzlies, Charlotte Hornets and Detroit Pistons — all have losing records. In fact, the Heat is the only team among the five teams with the most missed games due to injury this season with a winning record.

Entering Sunday through the first 32 games, Adebayo has missed 10 games, Butler has missed eight games, Herro has missed 18 games, Highsmith has missed 11 games, Lowry has missed four games, Martin has missed 12 games and Richardson has missed eight games.

Those injuries have led the Heat to use a league-leading 18 different starting lineups this season. In addition, the Heat’s leading trio of Adebayo, Butler and Herro have all been available to play together in just eight of the first 32 games.

But Spoelstra always says the Heat has enough regardless of who’s available. Often times, he has been right this season because of Miami’s impressive depth.

In Saturday’s loss to the Jazz, though, the Heat didn’t have enough. The Heat hopes it has enough moving forward to put together a strong finish to its five-game West Coast trip.

“As you figure this all out and get our rotations together and get guys healthy, you still can develop a talent of learning how to win,” Spoelstra said recently. “We have enough continuity. We’re used to having guys missing a game or two here or there. We’re not making any excuses for it. But you can learn how to win. If you’re just focused on learning how to win and get all the other clutter, get all the other normal stuff that happens in this association, you actually can do it. Now we just need to be consistent with it.”

IT’S OFFICIAL

Former Heat point guard Goran Dragic formally announced his retirement on Sunday after 15 NBA seasons, thanking the Heat and other organizations he played for during his career.

“I am officially announcing my retirement from professional basketball,” Dragic wrote as part of an Instagram post. “I have lived my greatest dream and I am extremely grateful for the countless people in my life who have enabled me to play and play this long.

“I am prepared to pursue my next challenge and I’d love to stay involved in the game of basketball, which is and always will be my passion. I also want to spend as much quality time as possible to raise my children.”

Dragic, 37, spent seven seasons with the Heat before he was traded to the Toronto Raptors as part of the Lowry deal in the 2021 offseason. He ranks among the Heat’s all-time leaders in field goals made (ninth in Heat history), three-point shots made (seventh), assists (third) and points (ninth).