It has been four years of ups and downs with Miami Heat forward Nikola Jovic, and certainly, the hope was that by the time we got to this point in his NBA career, he would have done enough to warrant a consistent, reliable role with the team–preferably as a stretch-4 starting alongside Bam Adebayo. Alas, things have just not been that easy for this franchise in recent years.
Jovic has been out of the rotation for two of the past three games, but had a chance to get back in Erik Spoelstra’s good graces with Tyler Herro a late scratch on Monday night against the Raptors. Just 12 seconds into his return, though, and with 3:56 to go in the first quarter, Jovic was running the floor on a fast break when he took a pass from Jaime Jaquez and went up for a dunk. He was fouled and missed the attempt but took a scary fall.
A stretcher was sent to carry Jovic off, but he declined it and walked off under his own power–it was later revealed to be an elbow injury, and Jovic was in a brace after the game, a 106-96 loss to Toronto, their fifth in a row.
Miami Heat ‘Dodged a Bullet’ on Injury
Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra was upbeat about the Jovic injury after the game. Jovic was wearing an elbow brace and certainly, the initial fall looked worse than Spoelstra’s ultimate report, which was that it looks like the Heat “dodged a bullet.”
Spoelstra shook his head at the fact that Jovic was smiling to his teammates while his elbow gushed blood.
“Crazy Serbian. I couldn’t believe he was smiling,” Spoelstra told reporters. “He was laughing when we all went up to him. I think that was his way of just lightening — he probably saw the look in all of our faces.
“It was a hard fall. Hopefully, it looks like we dodged a bullet on that one. He came down really hard and split his elbow open, so it was bleeding. But the scan came back negative, which is a good thing. But that will be sore for a while. We’ll get him an MRI tomorrow just to make sure there wasn’t anything else that we saw. But the bones are fine. He lost all feeling in his hand. A massive stinger. But like I said, hopefully, we dodged a bullet.”
GettyMiami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra updated the Nikola Jovic elbow injury on Monday.
Nikola Jovic Has New $62 Million Contract
It is another bump in the road for Jovic, who has had a series of such bumps during his Miami Heat tenure. The team did make a commitment to him, agreeing to a four-year, $62 million extension in the offseason that kicks in next year.
That means Jovic is nearly impossible to trade this season, not until the new deal kicks in. He has played just 19 games, though, with only one start and is averaging 7.2 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.6 assists in 18.3 minutes per game. He is shooting 39.0% from the field and 28.3% from the 3-point line.
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