MINNEAPOLIS — The waiting game is over for Miami Heat guard Tyler Herro, cleared Tuesday to make his return after missing 13 games with a toe bruise, having not played since Dec. 9.

“I just had to get healthy, that’s about it,” Herro said after the morning shootaround at Target Center of the non-surgical injury, “get my body right, get my health intact.”

The clearance came ahead of Tuesday night’s nationally televised game against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

“It was keeping me from playing basketball, and now I can play basketball,” Herro said of the ultimate simplicity of the decision.

Herro was in uniform for Sunday’s victory over the New Orleans Pelicans at Kaseya Center, with the team announcing pregame that night that he would not play.

It left Herro in the somewhat odd position of being dressed for action but being told there would be no action.

“That was my first time,” Herro said of the situation, actually having been in that same situation while dealing with a hand injury during the 2023 NBA Finals. “Not used to it, but it’s cool.”

Herro said there was no set-in-stone minutes restriction.

“No, I haven’t really heard much,” he said after the team’s morning practice. “I’m just here to play ball, and I’m excited to be back on the floor.”

Coach Erik Spoelstra said it was as simple as getting Herro right and ready for the return.

“Well, he’s definitely put in the work, not only with the rehab in the training room, but also the ramp up to prepare his body,” Spoelstra said. “Sometimes there’s unpredictable things, things that you can’t control. But he’s in a great place right now, and we’re excited to have him back.”

Spoelstra acknowledged no specific minutes restriction.

“He’s putting in the time to prepare himself to be ready for a decent amount of minutes,” Spoelstra said. “It’s not a specific amount because we’ll communicate throughout the course of the game just to make sure he’s feeling good.”

Herro’s return comes after appearing in only six previous games, since he missed 17 games at the start of the season following September ankle surgery. That leaves Spoelstra at somewhat of an inflection point when it comes to sorting out his wing rotation.

“Yeah, it’s the NBA, so injuries are going to happen, unpredictable things are going to happen,” Spoelstra said, deflecting specifics. “We have a group that’s very committed to each other and to winning. And as you’ve seen so far, things have been very fluid.”

Guard Norman Powell, who has picked up the scoring load amid Herro’s absences, said there is no downside to adding talent, no matter the impact on the rotation.

“I’m excited to have him back in the fold, in the lineup,” he said. “He’s a tremendous player, a tremendous talent. He’s going to help us be the team that we want to be, being able to finally get fully healthy and see what we have.

“Guys can get comfortable with the rotation and how we want to play. We’ve seen what he can do in the few games that he has played. So hopefully him being back is going to be back for the full season and we can fully get cooking.”

But not Jaquez

As often is the case, when one returns, one is out.

That especially proved to be the case with guard Jaime Jaquez Jr., who on Monday initially was listed as out for Tuesday night with the ankle sprain that kept him out Sunday. Jaquez’s status then was changed to questionable on Tuesday morning, before being switched back to being out for Tuesday night.

“Jaime is here for a reason, but he’s not ready tonight,” Spoelstra said, with the Heat’s four-game trip continuing Thursday night against the Chicago Bulls, with games then Saturday against the Indiana Pacers and Sunday against the Oklahoma City Thunder. “We’ll treat him day to day.

“We’re excited about this, getting close to our full unit.”