MIAMI – With Miami Heat star center Kel'el Ware out for Tuesday's contest against the Washington Wizards, there is no doubt that fans are holding their breath in wondering the severity of his injury. As the Heat enter a crucial week to fortify their standings in the Eastern Conference, the team needs as much as possible to propel itself out of the play-in tournament, as head coach Erik Spoelstra has good news on Ware.

The young center came into Tuesday's game with a right shoulder strain, an injury he suffered in Sunday's win over the Detroit Pistons, as the team can't afford more injuries with Norman Powell, Andrew Wiggins, and others missing time. However, Spoelstra would say to ClutchPoints that “it looks encouraging” about Ware.

“It happened on one of those rebounds, but he was able to get everything checked out today. It looks encouraging,” Spoelstra said before the Wizards contest. “So he'll just do treatment, and then we'll figure out when he can get back out there. I know he wants to get back out there.”

Ware has been in a groove since the All-Star break, recording five double-doubles and making a winning impact each game, even playing well with Bam Adebayo on the same floor. As the two-big-man lineup has been getting some attention, Ware has also gained more trust from the team when Adebayo is off the floor, which hopefully the second-year player can reclaim once he comes back.

“He's starting to come along…it's not gonna be 20 and 15 every night, but his presence was felt today…and that's what I look at for him, like making the right plays, being a lot there, running in transition, blocking shots, and it gives me time to get a rest,” Adebayo said after the win over the Pistons.

Heat's Tyler Herro is also missing more time 

Miami Heat guard Tyler Herro (14) looks on against the Phoenix Suns during the second quarter at Kaseya Center.
Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

Another injury to the Heat is star Tyler Herro, who has been excellent since coming back from a 15-game absence, but is now dealing with quadriceps soreness and was deemed out, missing his 46th total game this season. As he's been impressive in the last nine games, especially this last week, earning the NBA's Eastern Conference player of the week, should Herro step back from going 100 percent every game?

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For Spoelstra, he would say before Tuesday's game that Miami will continue to be “responsible” with Herro.

“I mean, we'll see how things play out,” Spoelstra said. “He's going through his full warm-up and going through his process with the trainers. He wants to be out there. He understands this time of the year. And, you know, he's missed enough time that he just…he wants to go for it. You know, that's the way he's wired. He sees that we're playing good basketball right now, but we'll see, we'll be responsible with it.”

It has been a frustrating season for Herro, but there's no denying how difficult the recovery process has been, which was reminded by Spoelstra after the win over the Pistons.

“It’s definitely not easy,” Spoelstra said. “You see it all the time in this league. Players, they’re the best in the world at what they do, and when they miss extended time, it is really tough. You hear it all the time. There’s nothing like game conditioning, game rhythm. But the way he works is about as close as you can get to that. Everything is a full-speed rep.”

At any rate, Miami will be without Ware and Herro for Tuesday, as it remains to be seen how much more time they could potentially miss.