MRI reveals Grade 2 ankle sprain for Heat’s Tyler Herro. The latest update on Herro’s injury

As Miami Heat guard Tyler Herro sat in front of his locker at FedExForum late Wednesday night, he kept repeating one word when answering questions about his latest setback.

Unfortunate.

That’s because Herro’s hot start to the season has been put on pause after spraining his right ankle in the first quarter of Wednesday night’s 108-102 win over the Memphis Grizzlies to kick off a four-game trip. He immediately exited the game, never returned and will be out for at least the next two weeks because of the injury.

“I’m hanging in there,” Herro said following Wednesday’s win in Memphis.

While the Heat (4-4) is now in Atlanta awaiting Saturday’s game against the Hawks, Herro returned to Miami on Thursday to meet with team physician Harlan Selesnick to have his sprained right ankle examined.

An MRI on Thursday revealed Herro suffered a Grade 2 ankle sprain and he’ll re-evaluated in two weeks when the team will have a better idea when he can return, according to a league source. The Heat announced that Herro will be in a walking boot for 10 days.

According to Harvard Health, the recovery time for a Grade 2 ankle sprain ranges from three to six weeks.

Heat opens trip with win over Grizzlies, but loses Herro to ankle injury. Takeaways and details

It happened when Herro went up for a floater over reigning NBA Defensive Player of the Year Jaren Jackson Jr. and then landed on Jackson’s foot. Herro’s right ankle turned, immediately crumpling to the court in pain before getting up and quickly hobbling back to the Heat’s locker room without putting any pressure on his right leg.

“Just spur of the moment,” Herro said. “A floater, a shot that I shoot multiple times a game. Just unfortunate to land on his foot. I don’t feel the best, but I’m going to get better. I’ll be straight.”

Herro said he knew he was done for the night as soon as he turned the ankle. As he rolled on the court in pain a few feet away from the Heat’s bench, he mouthed to his coaches and teammates that he couldn’t keep playing.

“It was something I felt right when it happened,” Herro said. “I felt it and I kind of knew mentally. I heard some crunches and cracks in my ankle. I’m like, ‘Yeah, that will be it.’ I actually told the bench, ‘I’m done. I can’t keep going.’ It’s unfortunate, but I’m just going to continue to work hard. I’ve been through this injury stuff before and I’m just going to keep working.”

Herro said after Wednesday’s game that he expects to miss “probably a couple weeks,” which is in line with the recovery time for the Grade 2 ankle sprain that Thursday’s MRI revealed.

“It’s a sprained ankle. That’s what we know right now,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said after Wednesday’s win in Memphis before Thursday’s MRI. “He got an X-ray, that was clean. We’ll do an MRI tomorrow just to check on things. But we know what it is. It’s a sprained ankle and we’ll figure it out from there.”

The Heat has plenty to figure out with Herro expected to miss the next few weeks.

Herro, 23, was off to one of the best scoring starts to a season in Heat history. He entered Wednesday’s win over the Grizzlies with 177 total points through the first seven games, which is the fifth-most points scored by a Heat player in the first seven games of a season in franchise history behind only LeBron James (2011-12), Dwyane Wade (2009-10), Wade (2008-09) and Wade (2006-07).

After surviving the Damian Lillard trade rumors this past summer, Herro is averaging a team-high 22.9 points to go with five rebounds, 4.6 assists and 1.4 steals per game while shooting 44.7 percent shooting from the field and 41 percent from three-point range in his fifth NBA season. This is Herro’s second season as a full-time starter.

So it’s not surprising that the Heat’s offense has been a lot better with Herro on the court to begin the season. Miami has an offensive rating of 109.9 points scored per 100 possessions with Herro on the court compared to a dismal 97 points scored per 100 possessions when Herro is not playing this season.

The Heat entered Thursday with the NBA’s fifth-worst offensive rating for the season and that’s with Herro healthy for the first seven games.

“It’s a process at this point,” Heat center Bam Adebayo said when asked about Herro’s injury. “We’ll get him back when we get him back. The biggest thing for him is getting healthy and being able to stay at that high level he’s been at it.”

Without Herro for most of Wednesday’s game, the Heat opened the second half with Duncan Robinson in Herro’s place in the starting unit. Guard Dru Smith also logged double-digit minutes off the bench after Herro went out late in the first quarter. Then there was starting point guard Kyle Lowry, who took a more aggressive approach with Herro out to finish Wednesday’s win with season-highs in points (17), rebounds (11), assists (9), field-goal attempts (11) and three-point attempts (7).

Of course, the Heat’s leading duo of Adebayo and Jimmy Butler will also be relied on to do more offensively with Herro out.

All of that could represent a glimpse at the Heat’s plan to replace some of Herro’s production and minutes while he’s out. Making this upcoming stretch even more difficult is the fact that eight of the Heat’s next nine games come on the road.

It would help the Heat if forward Caleb Martin can come back from injury soon, although there is still no timetable for his return. Martin, who has missed the last seven games because of left knee tendinosis, will slide right back into the Heat’s rotation when he returns.

As for Herro, he’s unfortunately become used to dealing with injuries. He essentially missed the Heat’s entire playoff run to the NBA Finals last season after breaking his right hand in the opening game of the playoffs.

“It feels like I broke my hand yesterday,” he said. “Starting the season how I did and this comes across, it’s another setback. But I’m just going to keep going.”

When Herro was done with his post-game interview on Wednesday, he grabbed his crutches and hobbled out of the visiting locker room in Memphis as the Heat left FedExForum victorious but with a big void to fill until he returns.