On the morning of September 19, ESPN NBA insider Shams Charania announced on X that Miami Heat star guard Tyler Herro is undergoing surgery on his left foot. As a result, he will be sidelined to start the 2025-26 season, with an estimated timeline for his return being eight weeks.
Now, hearing about an athlete facing an injury setback is always tough news. But in the bigger picture of NBA competition, whenever a rival is dealing with a significant injury absence, you have to think about what that means for other teams. In the case of the Toronto Raptors, this definitely opens up a clear opportunity for them to climb up the Eastern Conference standings.
I would say that Miami is probably right there with the Raptors as middle-of-the-pack to near play-in caliber teams in the East standings. Now, with Miami set to be without a significant piece at the start of what will be a very important first few months of the season, Toronto can take some comfort in the fact that their competition will have to figure out how to cope without what’s lost in Herro’s absence.
Tyler Herro injury favors the Raptors in terms of East competition
The Heat brought in former Raptors standout Norman Powell in the offseason, and I think he'll be a great fit in South Beach. But now, there might be extra pressure on him to be a real offensive spark to meet those expectations. Or maybe another ex-Raptor, Davion Mitchell, can step into the spotlight as a primary playmaker, showing he can find teammates effectively since the Heat will be missing their key combo guard.
NBA analyst Keith Smith would raise this exact point in an X post, where he said: "Depending on how long Tyler Herro is out, Norman Powell takes on a much bigger role for the Heat. Not having Herro is a major blow to Miami's offense. Powell will help cover that, but who picks up the rest? Spo has a lot of work to do to get this offense into even a decent spot."
The Heat are already a bit of a mixed bag team, similar to Toronto, where there isn’t one clear-cut star built specifically to drive success. Instead, they have a roster full of guys who can step up and contribute when needed. That said, Miami has faced criticism in recent years for how they handled Jimmy Butler and for their rumored pursuit of star trades, even though they haven’t hit gold on any of those targets. To put simply, the pressure is on in Miami.
The same could be said for Toronto heading into the 2025-26 season, but the Raptors have the confidence that their roster will be all set and ready to go when the NBA season starts again — and they need to use that to their advantage.