On Thursday, Nov. 16, the Miami Heat and Brooklyn Nets made some significant injury announcements prior to their game.
On Thursday, the Heat will have a vital member of their rotation back in action when forward Caleb Martin (knee) is healthy.
This season, Martin has only made one appearance: in the team’s first game over the Detroit Pistons. In 19:30 of playing time, he added three rebounds, one assist, one steal, and two points on 1-of-7 shooting to his game total.
The 28-year-old was a huge piece of Miami’s rotation last season, playing 29.3 minutes per game, and he had a major role in the playoffs as well to help the Heat advance to the NBA Finals.
As for Brooklyn, the team ruled out multiple key players for Thursday’s matchup. Cam Thomas (ankle) and Ben Simmons (back) will both miss Thursday’s game. Simmons could be sidelined for some time with the injury.
The Nets also won’t have Armoni Brooks, Keon Johnson, Noah Clowney, Jalen Wilson and Dariq Whitehead. Those players are all on G League assignments.
Thomas is a major loss for the Nets, as he’s averaged 26.9 points per game in the eight games that he’s played in this season. A pure scorer, Thomas is shooting 47.9 percent from the field and 32.1 percent from 3-point range.
The Nets will likely rely heavily on Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson and Spencer Dinwiddie to pick up the slack in the scoring department until Thomas is able to return.
For the Heat, it will be interesting to see how Erik Spoelstra configures his rotation with Martin back in the fold. It’s possible that rookie Jaime Jaquez Jr. could see his minutes dip even though he is playing well.
The rookie has played over 30 minutes in three straight games for Miami. Haywood Highsmith and Duncan Robinson could also see slight dips in their minutes to get Martin back up to speed.
Regardless, the team will be much deeper with such a key player returning.
The Heat and Nets are scheduled to tip off at 7:30 p.m. EST on Thursday night in Miami.
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