On Monday, it was announced that Miami Heat forward Derrick Jones Jr. will miss at least the next six weeks due to bone bruises in his right knee. Jones originally suffered the injury during the Heat's win over the New York Knicks on Sunday.
It initially looked much worse than that, so bone bruises are pretty much the best-case scenario, as Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra told the South Florida Sun Sentinel:
“Good news. . .We'll re-evaluate him six weeks, but no surgery. I think we were all able to eat our dinners last night,” said Spoelstra. “We were all kind of on pins and needles just waiting for his MRI to come back, and it came back clean. Obviously, the two bone bruises, that will take some time. He's young, we're not going to rush it. But that's the best-case scenario; no surgery.”
In 37 games this season, Jones is averaging 7.4 points and 4.4 rebounds over 18.1 minutes per game while shooting 51.2 percent from the floor, 36.5 percent from three-point range and 61.6 percent from the free-throw line.
“Considering everything, it could have been a lot worse, and we really do think that a lot of the training he's been doing behind the scenes, strength training with his legs,” added Spoelstra. “. . .It could have been worse if he didn't have the stabilization with his legs to be able to catch it before it went worse.”
The Heat currently own a record of 24-24 and are coming off back-to-back wins. They will play host to the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday night.
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