The Miami Heat will need to find a way to survive a challenging early season schedule without one of its best players.

With the Heat set to hold its annual Media Day on Sept. 29 before opening training camp on Sept. 30 at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Heat guard Tyler Herro is expected to miss around eight weeks after undergoing surgery on his left ankle Friday.

This timetable has Herro potentially returning in mid-to-late November. For perspective, the Heat plays its 14th game of the regular season on Nov. 17 against the New York Knicks in Miami.

Herro is coming off the best season of his six-year NBA career, averaging career highs in points (23.9 points per game) and assists (5.5 per game) while shooting a career-best 47.2% from the field last regular season. He also shot an impressive 37.5% on 8.7 three-point attempts per game while playing in a career-high 77 games (all starts) last regular season after never reaching the 70-game mark.

How will the Heat fill this void while Herro is sidelined? Here’s a look at how Herro’s absence affects the other guards on Miami’s standard roster.

Kasparas Jakucionis: The Heat’s 19-year-old rookie is an option to fill minutes at the guard spot with Herro out, but the drawback of playing Jakucionis early in his first NBA season is his lack of experience at this level. It’s clear if Jakucionis will need some time to develop his game before reaching his full potential. Jakucionis, who the Heat selected with the 20th pick in the first round of this year’s NBA Draft, averaged 9.5 points, 2.8 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 3.7 turnovers per game while shooting 14 of 44 (31.8%) from the field and 6 of 28 (21.4%) from three-point range in six appearances during his uneven summer league showing. The Heat will likely turn to a few of its more experienced guards ahead of Jakucionis early this season, even with Herro out.

Pelle Larsson: Entering his second NBA season since being taken by the Heat in the second round of last year’s draft, Larsson was already projected as a potential rotation player before Herro’s surgery. But now, Larsson could play a bigger role. Larsson, 24, is coming off a busy and productive offseason, starring for the Heat’s summer league team and then impressing with Sweden’s national team in the EuroBasket 2025 tournament. Larsson averaged a team-high 18.8 points per game on 45.5% shooting from the field and 8-of-31 (25.8%) shooting from three-point range to go with 4.4 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.2 steals per game for Sweden in five EuroBasket appearances. For the Heat, Larsson won’t be relied on to be one of its top players. But Larsson’s ability to draw fouls and get to the basket paired with his physical defense and hustle make him an intriguing role player for Miami. Without Herro, Larsson could play more minutes off the Heat’s bench than expected during the first few weeks of the season. But Larsson needs to continue to improve as a three-point shooter.

Davion Mitchell: After being moved to Miami during last season’s midseason Jimmy Butler trade, Mitchell turned in one of the best sustained stretches of his NBA career. Mitchell, 27, averaged 10.3 points, 2.7 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 1.4 steals per game while shooting 50.4% from the field and 44.7% on 3.1 three-point attempts per game in 30 regular-season appearances (15 starts) with the Heat. That was enough to get the Heat to re-sign Mitchell in free agency this summer. While Mitchell might have begun this season as a reserve if Herro was healthy, the expectation is Mitchell will start alongside Norman Powell in the Heat’s backcourt while Herro is sidelined. Mitchell is not the scorer that Herro and Powell are, but Mitchell does serve as another ball-handler who can put pressure on the rim while also providing a quality on-ball defensive presence.

Norman Powell: The Heat’s thinking behind trading for Powell this offseason was to add another quality scoring option to take some of the offensive burden off Herro. But with Herro out for at least the first month of the regular season, Powell will be relied on to fill most of Herro’s scoring void and absorb a large chunk of Herro’s on-ball usage while he’s sidelined. Powell, 32, seems up for the task after averaging a career-high 21.8 points per game last season for the Los Angeles Clippers. Powell was one of only six NBA players who averaged at least 21 points per game while shooting better than 48% from the field and better than 40% from three-point range last regular season along with Nikola Jokic, Kevin Durant, Karl-Anthony Towns, Zach LaVine and Kawhi Leonard. While there were questions whether Powell or Mitchell would start alongside Herro in the Heat’s backcourt this season, it appears to be a lock that Powell will be one of the Heat’s starting guards on opening night now that Herro is unavailable.

Terry Rozier: A spot in the Heat’s rotation is far from guaranteed for Rozier, who is coming off arguably the worst season of his NBA career. However, Herro’s absence creates a bigger opportunity for Rozier to earn some early-season playing time. But Rozier has a lot to prove this preseason, as he began last season as a Heat starter and was expected to be one of the team’s top offensive players before completely falling out of the Heat’s rotation toward the end of the season. Rozier, 31, was one of only four players in the NBA who shot worse than 40% from the field and worse than 30% on threes while playing in at least 60 games last regular season. Rozier, who is on an expiring contract with a $26.6 million salary for this upcoming season, is also being investigated by federal prosecutors to determine whether he manipulated his performance as part of an illegal sports betting scheme in a March 2023 game while he was with the Charlotte Hornets.

Dru Smith: The expectation is that Smith will be ready for the start of training camp after sustaining a season-ending torn Achilles tendon in December, as a league source said Smith recently resumed five-on-five work. If Smith can remain healthy and is available for the beginning of the regular season, he is an option to fill some guard minutes off the Heat’s bench while Herro is out. Smith, who ended last season on a two-way contract with the Heat before being moved to a standard deal this offseason, had become an important part of the Heat’s bench rotation last season before going down with a noncontact Achilles injury. Smith logged double-digit minutes in eight straight games before tearing his Achilles, establishing himself as a reliable and solid offensive option while also turning into a standout point-of-attack perimeter defender. The question is what version of Smith, 27, will the Heat get following his latest injury?