exhibition opener against the Toronto Raptors<\/a>. \u201cSo since then I didn\u2019t feel right, and took some days off, came back, just came back a little too quick, didn\u2019t respect it, maybe, and tried to tough it out. And now, just taking it slower.\u201d<\/p>\nThat had Larsson limited to shooting on the side following Tuesday\u2019s practice, still not 100%.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know, it\u2019s hard to say, because I was feeling fine, and then, once my heart rate got up, my head started hurting again,\u201d he said, with the Heat not identifying the illness, with NBA injury reports not required during the preseason. \u201cSo right now I\u2019m just taking it slow, step-by-step, and can\u2019t really put a percentage on it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Larsson thought he could push through Saturday, but instead wound up shooting 4 of 15 from the field, with five assists and a team-high four turnovers in his 24:54.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve just been fatigued, and then I thought, you know, I\u2019ve been sick and played before, and played good,\u201d he said. \u201cSo I just wanted to get reps in before the season started. And I thought I felt good enough, but it just kind of made it worse, not so much when I was playing, but whenever I would stop, and after the game. So, yeah, it was tough. I was just fatigued.\u201d<\/p>\n
With a Wednesday night appearance now unlikely.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll be taking it slow right now, just increasing the load slowly,\u201d he said, with the Heat then to close out their preseason schedule on Friday night on the road against the Orlando Magic, before their Oct. 21 season opener against the visiting Timberwolves. \u201cI mean, I\u2019ve had headaches; I had it pretty much constant for a week. Today was like the first day I didn\u2019t wake up with a headache, so it\u2019s been 24\/7.\u201d<\/p>\n
With Dru Smith sidelined by a calf strain sustained during training camp, Larsson had wound up taking repetitions at point guard, including during that preseason-opening victory over the Raptors. He exited training camp setting up as the likely backup at small forward to Andrew Wiggins.<\/p>\n
Coach Erik Spoelstra said the key now is to protect Larsson from himself.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe did some things on the side just to see how that feels,\u201d Spoelstra said. \u201cHe\u2019s a zero-to-a-hundred guy, so we have to protect him from himself and just make sure that he scales it appropriately.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was probably a little bit too fast, but he\u2019s and he\u2019s wired that way, where he wants to get out there and he\u2019ll be back soon.\u201d<\/p>\n
Larsson last month agreed to a four-year, $60 million extension that kicks in with the 2026-27 season. He is earning the NBA veteran minimum this season.<\/p>\n
Other ailments<\/p>\n
While Smith also worked on the side alone Tuesday, forward Keshad Johnson was a full go after sustaining a hamstring strain during training camp.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re both making progress,\u201d Spoelstra said. \u201cKJ\u2019s been able to practice both days, and that\u2019s been super encouraging. Dru has been able to get on the court now the last two or three days. So I\u2019m encouraged that he\u2019s headed in the right direction.\u201d<\/p>\n
Court released<\/p>\n
The NBA on Tuesday released the court designs to be utilized during the NBA Cup in-season tournament.<\/p>\n
The first of the Heat\u2019s four pool-play games in the event is Oct. 30 against the Indiana Pacers at Kaseya Center.<\/p>\n
The NBA Cup court design for Kaseya Center will be used for at least two pool-play games and could be used a maximum of four times, if the Heat were to advance and host quarterfinal and semifinal games.<\/p>\n
The championship of the event is Dec. 11 at historic Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis on the Butler University campus.<\/p>\n
The Heat were eliminated in the quarterfinal round of the event last season.<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/HUhey2cXMAASnDZ.jpg\")
The Miami Heat’s court design for NBA Cup games at Kaseya Center this season. (NBA)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MIAMI \u2014 A week removed from the Miami Heat\u2019s season opener, Pelle Larsson says he still feels less…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":426910,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[114,123,125,2490,124,2295,110],"class_list":["post-426909","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\/426909","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=426909"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426909\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/426910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=426909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=426909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=426909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}