Getty Images Gabe Vincent and Tyler Herro of the Miami Heat.
If Tyler Herro wants to start for the Miami Heat, he’ll have to earn it, per team president Pat Riley.
Herro averaged a healthy 20.7 points, 5.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists last season playing mostly off the bench. While Herro did not play out of the starting lineup, he still notched 32.6 minutes per game — the same as Bam Adebayo. He also put up the most field goal attempts per game with 17.
During his exit interview, Herro — who won the Sixth Man of the Year award — made it clear that he feels that he deserves a spot in the starting five next season.
“Yeah, for sure,” Herro told reporters during his exit interview. “In some way, I would like to start. I think it’s my fourth year, so I think I’ve earned it, and we’ll see what happens.”
Riley did not quite agree with Herro’s assessment and put the young star on notice with a strong statement on Monday, June 6.
“The next step for him — and I think we’re seeing this in the league — if you want to win a championship and you wanna be a starter, you really have to become a two-way player today,” Riley said. “You have to improve in certain areas of your game. I saw improvement in his defense this year, he’s got great, quick feet.
“But as far as being a starter, come to training camp and win it. Sometimes it’s that easy, and sometimes the fit was better for us coming in, balancing the energy of scoring and having somebody who can really control the ball. If he wants to be a starter we’ll see in October. That’s something that you earn. There’s no doubt he has the qualities to be that.”
Herro Eligible for Massive Extension This Offseason
Riley’s comments on Herro are especially interesting considering the 22-year-old guard is eligible for an extension worth up to $181 million this offseason. The Heat and Herro’s reps have until October to negotiate and if no agreement is reached, he’ll become a restricted free agent next summer.
The Heat will still be able to match any offer sheet that comes in, but a team might be willing to swoop in and go higher than Miami is willing to. If that happens, Miami would lose the former first-rounder for nothing, which is why his name has been floated in trade conversations. When it comes to an extension, Herro is leaving it to his agent.
“I’m not sure yet, honestly, what’s going to happen,” Herro said when asked about an extension. “We’ll see what happens this summer. My agent [Jeff Schwartz] will talk to who he needs to talk to, and we’ll see what happens.”
Pat Riley Willing to go Star Hunting This Offseason
There’s speculation that Riley could decide to look for a certified third star to place next to Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo next season. Riley was open that they’ll be looking at all their options, but there are a lot of factors when it comes to actually getting something done.
“If there’s one out there, throw ’em to me,” Riley said. “But you can always use more, but it’s got to be a good fit, but not at the cost of doing something that could be prohibitive. So we will look, we will explore, we always do this, it’s part of the business that we chose and whatever the result brings after that season, then you might say we need another this or another that, based on how the league is playing, based on how other teams are playing and matching up with certain teams and stuff like that. So that goes into the equation, we’ll talk about it.”
Big-fish targets that have been mentioned as possible fits for the Heat have included Donovan Mitchell and Bradley Beal.