{"id":415949,"date":"2026-10-01T18:36:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-01T18:36:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/415949\/"},"modified":"2026-10-01T18:36:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T18:36:08","slug":"miami-heats-dru-smith-sidelined-with-calf-strain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/415949\/","title":{"rendered":"Miami Heat’s Dru Smith sidelined with calf strain"},"content":{"rendered":"

BOCA RATON \u2014 Monday, amid the optimism of the Miami Heat\u2019s media day, Dru Smith was all smiles when addressing his first injury\/surgery-free offseason in years. The fifth-year point guard was poised to seize the opportunity for an increased role.<\/p>\n

Thursday, it turned out to be more of the same, with the Heat announcing the 28-year-old veteran would miss multiple weeks with a strained right calf.<\/p>\n

Poised to play as the primary reserve to Davion Mitchell, Smith again finds himself in a waiting game.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019s not as serious as before,\u201d said Smith, who already has endured devastating Achilles and knee injuries during his Heat tenures. \u201cYeah, I mean, obviously, I\u2019ve gotten a lot worse news over the years. So, you know, a couple weeks, something like that, it\u2019s not the worst thing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe timing is terrible, obviously.\u201d<\/p>\n

For now, it means missing Friday\u2019s conclusion of training camp at Florida Atlantic University<\/a> and most, if not all, of the Heat\u2019s five-game exhibition schedule that opens Saturday in Quebec City against the Toronto Raptors.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was later in practice (Wednesday),\u201d Smith said of the injury. \u201cI just went to take off on a back cut, and just took a really big negative step, which, you know, never is really ideal to be in that position.\u201d<\/p>\n

For now, it leaves the Heat in a somewhat tight position at point guard. Beyond Mitchell, the options at the moment are two-way player Tre Donaldson and second-round pick Ryan Conwell, with third-year Pelle Larsson also an option at the position. Each of those options has played mostly as a scoring guard.<\/p>\n

Additional depth at point guard is expected within a week or two, when the Heat bring in veteran point guard Dennis Smith Jr.<\/a> on a camp tryout and then cycle through other Exhibit 10 tryout options.<\/p>\n

For now, it does not appear that other outside veteran options will be considered, with former Heat point guard Gabe Vincent among those still available in free agency. Another option, D\u2019Angelo Russell, this week signed to play in China after being waived last week by the Memphis Grizzlies.<\/p>\n

Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said the work Dru Smith was able to put in during the offseason should ease the recovery reacclimation from this latest setback.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a minor thing,\u201d Spoelstra said. \u201cSo I understand because of his injury history that this would come to the forefront, but it\u2019s a minor deal. We\u2019ll be able to take care of it. He\u2019ll be just fine.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s also put in all the player development this summer, which has really helped him. He hasn\u2019t been able to do that really in several years. He\u2019ll be OK.\u201d<\/p>\n

With Smith out, Spoelstra said it should mean additional opportunity for Donaldson and Conwell, among others. He also stressed the ballhandling versatility of big men Bam Adebayo, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Nikola Jovic.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re going after it right now,\u201d Spoelstra said of his neophyte options at point guard. \u201cAnd so they\u2019re in that stage right now where they\u2019re making us watch, and that\u2019s Ryan and it\u2019s also Tre. Pelle has been doing a little bit of ball handling, as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd our bigs are very unique, the ability to enter offense with Bam and Giannis, even Niko. The first two guys, those guys do it so easily and seamlessly, they\u2019ve done it over the course of their careers. That versatility will allow us to do that if we need it and we will use it, regardless.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Smith, it\u2019s back to the rehab regimen, more than familiar with the process and the expectations.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike I said, it\u2019s frustrating, but could have been a lot worse,\u201d he said. \u201cIt is what it is. I\u2019ll be alright.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still willing to mentor, as he again awaits his turn.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think people will probably maybe be a little bit surprised,\u201d he said of the current Heat depth at the position. \u201cI think the young guys have looked really good these last few days, with Tre and Ryan. I think they\u2019re doing a great job of competing at a high level, and also continuing to learn all at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BOCA RATON \u2014 Monday, amid the optimism of the Miami Heat\u2019s media day, Dru Smith was all smiles…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":415950,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[114,123,125,2490,124,2295,110],"class_list":["post-415949","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-latest-headlines","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-heat","tag-miami-news","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415949","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=415949"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415949\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/415950"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=415949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=415949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=415949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}