With Jaquez and Love to return vs. Knicks, Heat just about whole for first time this season

The Miami Heat is essentially whole for the first time this season.

As injury issues have forced the Heat to cycle through an NBA-high 25 different starting lineups this season, the Heat will have its full rotation available for the first time on Saturday against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden (3 p.m., ABC). The Heat hopes that positive news on the injury front will translate to its first win in nearly two weeks, as it has dropped five straight games for the first time since March 2021.

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Heat rookie revelation Jaime Jaquez Jr. will make his return on Saturday after missing the last six games with a strained left groin. The Heat went 1-5 while he was out.

Heat backup center Kevin Love will also make his return on Saturday after missing Thursday’s loss to the Boston Celtics with a stomach illness.

The only player who didn’t travel with the Heat to New York on Friday is guard Dru Smith, who is out for the rest of the season after undergoing knee surgery. Smith is the only Heat player expected to miss Saturday’s game against the Knicks.

Jaquez’s return should help provide a much-needed boost to a Heat offense that has struggled during his absence.

Jaquez has been one of the NBA’s top rookies and has already won the first two Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month awards handed out this season.

Among NBA rookies this season, Jaquez entered Friday ranked fourth in points per game (14), 12th in rebounds per game (3.9), seventh in assists per game (2.7), first in steals per game (1.1) and second in minutes per game (30.2). And among the five rookies who have attempted more than 10 field-goal attempts per game this season, Jaquez holds the second-best field-goal percentage (51.3 percent) behind only Oklahoma City’s Chet Holmgren.

With the Heat entering Saturday’s game as healthy as it’s been all season, coach Erik Spoelstra will face some tough rotation decisions.

The expectation is the Heat will continue to use a starting lineup of Terry Rozier, Tyler Herro, Jimmy Butler, Haywood Highsmith and Bam Adebayo.

The Heat’s coaching staff will then need to choose from top reserves like Jaquez, Love, Caleb Martin, Josh Richardson and Duncan Robinson to complete its rotation. Or the Heat could use a 10-man rotation and play all of them.