Most Heat regulars will not travel to San Antonio for preseason game vs. Spurs. Who will play?

The Miami Heat will enter Friday’s nationally televised preseason game against the San Antonio Spurs and rookie phenom Victor Wembanyama with a depleted roster.

A Heat spokesman said Thursday that Jimmy Butler (dental procedure), Caleb Martin (left knee tendinosis), Nikola Jovic (right knee contusion), Jaime Jaquez Jr. (left groin strain) and Josh Richardson (left foot discomfort) will not travel to San Antonio for the contest. Bam Adebayo, Tyler Herro, Kevin Love and Kyle Lowry also will not travel to allow some of the developmental players on the roster to play more minutes.

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With nine players ruled out for Friday’s game in San Antonio (7:30 p.m., TNT), that means 12 of the 21 players on the Heat’s preseason roster will be available against the Spurs: Thomas Bryant, Jamal Cain, Justin Champagnie, Cheick Diallo, R.J. Hampton, Haywood Highsmith, Drew Peterson, Duncan Robinson, Orlando Robinson, Dru Smith, Cole Swider and Alondes Williams.

“I’m going to try to play all those guys,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said following Thursday’s practice when asked what his approach will be with those 12 players on Friday. “They’ve been working their tails off, and I want to reward those guys for the work they’ve been putting in. They’ve earned these minutes. We also want to evaluate them.”

The good news for the Heat is none of the injuries keeping players out Friday are believed to be serious. Richardson and Martin even took part in portions of Thursday’s practice, while Butler, Jovic and Jaquez were held out.

“I can’t play 21 guys,” Spoelstra said. “A couple guys are dealing with some minor things. Nothing to stress out about it. But I think this is the best opportunity to play a lot of these guys.”

The Heat received positive news on Jovic after his visit to the doctor Wednesday. Jovic, who was limited to seven minutes in Tuesday’s preseason opener against the Charlotte Hornets after injuring his right knee in the first half of the game, is day-to-day, according to the team.

“He’s feeling a lot better,” Spoelstra said regarding Jovic. “It doesn’t appear to be something serious. But it will take whatever it will take. He’ll be fine.”

Jovic, 20, said he was initially concerned about the injury because “it was hurting a lot that night” but “everything came out good and I feel good.” He is bothered, though, that he’s dealing with another injury after a back issue sidelined him for a large chunk of his rookie season last season.

“I wouldn’t say I’m mad, I’m just tired of this,” Jovic said. “I don’t want to miss games because of something like this.”

Also, the Heat has been encouraged by the progress Martin has made in recent days after he missed Tuesday’s preseason opener because of knee pain.

“He went through most of everything today, including the scrimmage,” Spoelstra said of Martin following Thursday’s practice. “I think we’ve taken the right steps. We quickly realize the things that he brings is that quick twitch, the high motor, the relentless efforts. That’s why we wanted to make sure we protected him from himself. This was a very good step today.”

Martin labeled his work in Thursday’s practice as a “really encouraging” step.

“I knew it was nothing serious,” Martin said. “I knew it was a matter of time before I was coming back, just being cautious. Our medical staff, out coaches all on the same page, everybody is OK with how I’m doing. I’ve been making great progress the last couple weeks. So today was very encouraging. I was just glad I was able to be out there and compete.”

After Friday’s matchup against the Spurs in San Antonio, the Heat returns home to face the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday in the third game of its five-game preseason schedule.