Key Heat backup guard suffers season-ending knee injury
12/24/2024 02:16 PM
The Miami Heat’s roller coaster 2024-2025 season took another turn for the worse on Tuesday. After backup guard Dru Smith suffered a concerning leg injury early in the team’s win over the Brooklyn Nets, ensuing evaluations confirmed a torn Achilles injury that will be season-ending, per Shams Charania.
Smith, 26, is in his third year with the Heat, all of them being on a two-way contract. For the second straight year, his season will end prematurely with a devastating injury. His torn ACL early in the 2023-2024 season raised eyebrows after Erik Spoelstra blamed the court layout at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse.
Despite being a fringe roster player in each of the past three offseasons, he was enjoying a breakout campaign in 2024-2025 before suffering the non-contact injury just seven minutes into his 14th game of the year. Smith had permanently cracked Spoelstra’s notoriously stingy rotation, averaging 19.1 minutes per game before going down.
While he accounted for just 6.3 points per game off the bench, Smith’s biggest contributions came on the defensive end. His hard-nosed on-ball defense perfectly embodied the “Heat culture” Spoelstra built in South Beach, making him the perfect complement to Tyler Herro and Terry Rozier III in the backcourt. Smith also grew as a shooter in his third season, hitting his three-point attempts at a career-high 53.3 percent clip.
Before the heartbreaking injury, Smith was well on his way to earning his first full NBA contract with Miami. He entered the league as an undrafted rookie in 2021 out of Missouri. He transferred to the Tigers after spending his first two seasons of college basketball with Evansville.
Heat rotation without Dru Smith
Without Smith, the Heat lose arguably their best point-of-attack defender for the rest of 2024-2025. If any team is used to preparing a shorthanded lineup, it is Miami.
Jimmy Butler, Josh Richardson, and Pelle Larsson are already in and out of the lineup, potentially opening up minutes for veteran swingman Alec Burks. Additional defensive responsibilities will likely fall on the shoulders of Haywood Highsmith and Jaime Jaquez Jr.
Depending on the matchup, Rozier or Duncan Robinson will also have more minutes to absorb. Rozier began the year as the starting point guard but quickly fell down the depth chart due to his immense offensive struggles. Without his scoring, Spoelstra routinely opted to play Smith over him late in games for defensive reasons. Those minutes will now be back up for grabs.
While a full contract seemed to be in Smith’s future before the injury, his career is now back in limbo. The Heat released him after he tore his ACL in 2023-2024, and due to his two-way contract status, they could opt for the same course of action.
The post Key Heat backup guard suffers season-ending knee injury appeared first on ClutchPoints.
