Heat guard Tyler Johnson has undergone successful surgery to repair the ulnar collateral ligament in his left thumb, the team announced today in a press release. The procedure was completed on Monday morning.
According to the Heat, Johnson will be in a cast for the next six weeks. It’s not clear when he’ll be able to resume all basketball activities, but he’s expected to make a full recovery and to be ready for training camp in the fall, per the club.
Johnson, who played through this thumb injury during the last couple games of the Heat’s first-round series vs. the Sixers, had a solid overall year for the club, averaging 11.7 PPG, 3.4 RPG, and 2.3 APG with a .435/.367/.822 shooting line in 72 games (39 starts).
Johnson will be under more scrutiny to produce in 2018/19. Due to the way his offer sheet from Brooklyn was structured in the summer of 2016, Johnson’s salary will jump from $5.88MM this season to $19.25MM next year. The Nets could’ve smoothed out Johnson’s cap hits over his four-year deal if they’d landed him, but the Heat didn’t have that option available after they matched the offer sheet, resulting in this significant third-year increase.
While Johnson is a very good bet to be back with the Heat due to his sizable cap hit, the team will have to find a way to address its glut of shooting guards. Josh Richardson, Dion Waiters, and Rodney McGruder also remain under contract, with Dwyane Wade and Wayne Ellington up for new deals.
Next year Goran Dragic, Josh Richardson, Rodney McGruder, Justise Winslow, Olynyk/JJ/Mickey
Tyler, JJ/KO, Dion, Ellington, Whiteside/Bam/Mickey and Wade when necessary for Dion and/or TJ…
to be honest, reworking the rotation depends on who is back, obviously, and also how Waiters looks healthy. He and Wade are redundant with each other, so whichever plays, the other likely wont. Ideally, you’d like to not have Waiters, Winslow, and JJ in the same lineups, so that also plays into it…it would be easier if certain guys weren’t entrenched in the starting lineup. I have long felt Whiteside would be a lot better off the bench, as he was 2 years ago, and Richardson would be good off the bench, playing starters minutes, but coming in with that 2nd unit, in certain rotations. Going into the year, that was in play, until McGruder and Waiters went down…Dragic, Waiters, McGruder, James Johnson, KO with Richardson, TJ, Winslow, Ellington, and Whiteside/Bam off the bench in that scenario. It would allow more floor balance, and that 2nd unit would be really fun to watch, with that athleticism and disruption
Dragic, Waiters, Ellington, Winslow, JJ
Richardson, TJ, KO, McGruder, etc is also a decent look in that scenario…bottom line is the Heat are pretty versatile if they can ever stay healthy. It should be interesting to see what ends up happening, b/c there is some redundancy there, and the Heat have a lot of movable pieces. To be honest, it’s hard for me to see where Wade’s role would be on a healthy team, in the regular season, assuming there aren’t trades made. I would like to see him play 2 more years, at least, so that may be something to watch. I could see him actually walking away, as he has potentially suggested, for that reason.
Your post…seems like you’ve been waiting to get that off your chest.
I wonder if he injured his thumb from sitting on it all year.