On Friday, the Miami Heat suffered an unfortunate injury to their roster in their 125-120 win against the Indiana Pacers. Second-year player Jaime Jaquez Jr. landed awkwardly and suffered an injured right ankle. Jaquez had the ball and dribbled to the right side as he brought it past center court. All-Star forward Pascal Siakam was assigned to guard the Heat player.
Jaime Jaquez fell down awkwardly and is holding his knee after twisting his ankle pic.twitter.com/DEAM2pgXXu
— Heat Clips 🎬 (@Demar305) March 1, 2025
The 6-foot-6 forward had to exit the game and didn’t return. Since then, the Heat have monitored the player’s injury as he’s one of the most important players in their roster. Heat’s head coach Erik Spoelstra addressed the injury of Jaquez, which was mostly positive.
“This one looked really bad on video. But he’s sprained his ankle so many times. He’s walking around OK. We’ll just have to see how he responds,” Spoelstra said via Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald.
Erik Spoelstra on Jaime Jaquez Jr.'s sprained ankle: "This one looked really bad on video. But he’s sprained his ankle so many times. He’s walking around OK. We’ll just have to see how he responds.”
— Anthony Chiang (@Anthony_Chiang) March 2, 2025
However, the coach has not given an update on when the Heat forward will return. This season, Jaquez has played 49 games, averaging 9.0 points, 4.6 rebounds and 2.6 assists.
Miami Heat is “urged” to trade for Kevin Durant
After the saga with Jimmy Butler, the Miami Heat is determined to make a move and pursue a new star who will play for their team. Heading into the summer, many anticipate Phoenix Suns’ Kevin Durant to be one of the most sought-after stars in the market. Surprisingly, the Heat is rumored to be one of the teams to pursue Durant.
Kevin Pelton of ESPN revealed that this could be the franchise’s plan during the offseason.
“The Heat might not expect to add anyone better in 2026 than Kevin Durant,” Pelton wrote. “If so, they should look to speed up the process — and avoid Durant being traded from Phoenix to a situation where he too would extend his contract — by acquiring him this summer.”
KD’s situation with the Suns isn’t the best, as the team has underachieved this season. Their lack of success could lead to the potential departure of the 15-time All-Star. After all, the organization tried to look for a market for him at the trade deadline. However, the rumored deal didn’t push through.
Pelton talked about situations in how the Heat could strike a deal to acquire Durant.
“If Miami could find a taker for Duncan Robinson, whose $19.9 million salary would have to be fully guaranteed for matching purposes, a package built around Wiggins and either Jaime Jaquez Jr. or Nikola Jovic, plus draft picks, would save Phoenix about $20 million in 2025-26 salary,” Pelson explained.
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Reign also writes NBA and WNBA news updates on Sportskeeda. He started as a feature writer for AirAlamo, an NBA website that covers the San Antonio Spurs. Some of his work can also be seen on Valley of the Suns, a Phoenix Suns-centric website, where he served as a contributing writer.
