MIAMI – As Miami Heat star Tyler Herro made his return from the ribs injury in Friday's 128-97 win over the Atlanta Hawks, having missed 15 straight games prior, the team was the healthiest it's been, arguably all season. With the Heat looking to maximize its full roster to its potential with 25 games left in the season before Saturday's tilt against the Memphis Grizzlies, head coach Erik Spoelstra speaks on the depth.
It had been a recurring trend that Miami's injury report would be filled with issues, with Herro being at the forefront as he's missed 45 of the 57 games played so far. But coming off a much-needed All-Star break, the team dominated with a healthy roster, possibly displaying the winning ways from early in the season.
Even with the myriad of injuries, Spoelstra has touted the team's depth, and though it's only one game, he said Friday's victory had a different feeling.
“I have a lot of positive feelings about our team and our depth, we've used it all season long,” Spoelstra said to ClutchPoints before Saturday's game. “We've used it when guys have been out, and last night was an example of when we had our full roster, you could feel the depth. You could feel the level of talent, you know, that we have on the roster. It is just one game, but we have to build and stack. I have no problem with our guys feeling great about the game coming out of the break, and now we have another one that's behind us. And we want to build some consistency.”
Asked Erik Spoelstra if last night is a glimmer of how he envisioned the team going into the season as it was the healthiest it’s been.
“You could feel the level of talent that we have on the roster, it’s just one game, but we have to build…” #HeatNation pic.twitter.com/4SKbWumWJs
— Zachary Weinberger (@ZachWeinberger) February 21, 2026
Tyler Herro headlines the Heat's “legit” strength
With the Heat's star in Herro coming back, it has given the team a chance to see which rotations work and which don't, though there is still more to work on. Especially when it comes to Herro and Norman Powell, and with the former coming off the bench in his first game, the two only played three minutes together.
Still, others, such as Kel'el Ware, Kasparas Jakucionis, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Pelle Larsson, and others benefited from a healthy roster. Spoelstra even said after the win how Miami has “legit depth.”
“We have legit depth, we’ve been talking about it all year,” Spoelstra said after Friday’s win over the Hawks. “But when you have guys out, the depth is used to plug in and fill in some gaps when guys are out. But when we have everybody available, we look a lot different. This is one game, but this is something that we’ve felt about our team for a while. We just have our guys available right now.”
There's no doubt that it helps someone like captain Bam Adebayo, who had been carrying more weight than usual with the uncertainty of who would be available or not.
“You love a team that has that much depth,” Adebayo said after recording 17 points, eight rebounds, and five assists in Atlanta. “Because now you’ve got different people that can step up at any moment. And throughout the rest of the season and going into the playoffs, you need that.”
Though Davion Mitchell and Nikola Jovic are out for Saturday, the health of the team seems to be heading in the right direction.
At any rate, Miami looks to stack wins as the team is 30-27, eighth in the Eastern Conference, before Saturday's home game against the Grizzlies.
