.JPG "Miami Heat guard Norman Powell (24) dribbles around San Antonio Spurs forward Harrison Barnes (40) during the first half of the game on March 23, 2026, at Kaseya Center in Miami.")
Miami Heat guard Norman Powell (24) dribbles around San Antonio Spurs forward Harrison Barnes (40) during the first half of the game on March 23, 2026, at Kaseya Center in Miami.
Alie Skowronski
askowronski@miamiherald.com
TORONTO
There’s good news and bad news regarding Miami Heat guard Norman Powell’s status.
The good news: Despite being listed as questionable for Thursday night’s matchup against the Raptors in Toronto due to right groin soreness, Powell said Thursday morning he will be available to play.
“I’m feeling good,” Powell said after Thursday’s morning shootaround at Scotiabank Arena. “I just woke up with some tightness. I did all the steps necessary to be able to see how I feel, see if I’ll be able to play. I’m playing so it’s not too big of a deal for me.”
The bad news: Powell believes his groin issue will continue to linger until he gets an extended break in the offseason.
“When you have muscle strains and things like that, you can rehab and everything. But it takes time,” Powell said. “You just need rest, and I just feel like I need rest. I need time to let the body do what it needs to do. But even though I can get it to a certain point where it feels good, there’s no pain and everything, it doesn’t mean that it’s 100% healed. So then over time, an accumulated amount of stress on that area, then it starts to flare back up.”
Powell, 32, first missed time this season due to his right groin when he was sidelined for three straight games in late October and early November because of a right groin strain.
Powell’s right groin didn’t force him to miss games again until late February and early March, when he was held out of seven straight games because of another right groin strain.
Now, Powell is back on the injury report with right groin soreness. But he is expected to play through the pain on Thursday.
“The good thing is that there’s no event that happened or like a pop or anything that occurred to where it’s like it’s something bigger,” Powell said. “It’s just like accumulated stress. The scar tissue probably hasn’t healed the way it needed to or hasn’t had the time to properly heal because we do the rehab or whatever and we get it to where there’s no pain.
“And then I go back out there and I’m playing and I’m doing things and I’m doing my workouts and I’m doing all this stuff that I normally do in my normal routine. And then it starts to open back up. So I won’t be able to fully get to 100% until I have an adequate amount of time to be able to rest and do a full rehab on it.”
Powell was the Heat’s lone All-Star this season after a strong start to the season, but injuries have limited him since the All-Star break. Entering Thursday, he has missed 12 of the Heat’s 23 games since the break — seven because of a right groin strain, one because of left calf tightness and four because of an illness.
Powell entered Thursday averaging a team-high and career-high 21.9 points per game while shooting 47.1% from the field and 38.3% from three-point range this season.
After Thursday’s contest in Toronto, the Heat has just two regular-season games to play before making its fourth straight appearance in the NBA’s play-in tournament next week. Miami will finish the regular season with a game against the Washington Wizards on Friday (7 p.m., FanDuel Sports Network Sun) before returning home to close the regular-season schedule on Sunday against the Atlanta Hawks.
“It’s the groin now that’s been flaring up here and there,” said Powell, who will be an unrestricted free agent this offseason unless he agrees to an extension with the Heat ahead of free agency. “There has not been one incident where I popped it or I tore it or things like that. It’s just accumulated stress over time, which causes soreness.”
Injury report
While Powell is expected to play Thursday, the Heat has ruled out forward Nikola Jovic (left ankle sprain).
In addition, the Heat remains without guard Terry Rozier (not with team). The Heat is expected to release Rozier before 5 p.m. on Friday to open a roster spot to promote one of its current two-way contract players to a standard deal.
Related Stories from Miami Herald
Miami Herald
Anthony Chiang covers the Miami Heat for the Miami Herald. He attended the University of Florida and was born and raised in Miami.