MIAMI – It has been a week since Nikola Jovic stood in a corner of the Miami Heat locker room at Kaseya Center speaking about the uncertainties of NBA life, of having seen teammates come and go this season, unsure of whether he could be next.

And yet two days later, two days after the season-ending 55-point loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers, the 2022 first-round pick was speaking about the need to get back to work – immediately – to maximize this offseason.

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“I have a solid three months to work on something,” the versatile 6-foot-10 forward said. “What that something will be, I don’t know yet. But I feel like this might be the first summer that I actually have some time to improve my game.”

At just 21, Jovic already has had a world of basketball experience.

Which has somewhat been the issue for the the emerging catalyst with the Serbian national team.

“My first year, I had the summer league, we went to the Finals and I haven’t had a lot of room to just work. I had national team,” Jovic said ahead of a trip back to Serbia. “I didn’t have a lot of time last year. I felt like I started off really good until I broke my foot in the middle of the summer. I wasn’t even ready for the Olympics. So basically the last two summers, I really didn’t have time to work on anything.

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“This summer, I hope I stay healthy, everything goes good, until the training camp for the national team, which is probably the end of July.”

Just as coach Erik Spoelstra spoke last week of a variety of season segments for the team overall, some good, some bad, so, too, did Jovic experience such whirlwinds.

After starting eight of the first 11 games, Jovic missed nearly a month with a sprained left ankle. Then, after the turn of the year, he settled in as a contributing rotation regular, routinely playing 30 or more minutes off the bench. And then, on Feb. 23 in Milwaukee, he broke his right hand. Only token playoff time followed from there.

“I think since the new year and then before my injury, I felt like I was pretty consistent and I kind of found my role coming off the bench and doing some things,” he said, “and the injury kind of pulled me back down.”

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And, then, the bitter ending against the Cavaliers.

“The truth is, I didn’t look great,” he said of his close to the season, his uneven late play in Game 2 of the Cleveland series arguably costing the Heat their lone chance to secure a win. “I haven’t helped this team as much as they needed me to help them. And that’s it. I can’t be happy because of the way we finished the season.”

Along the way, Spoelstra said there were enough moments of clarity to create optimism.

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“Starting out as a starter and then being out of the rotation, having to fight for it again, all the little things, and then earning back basically the sixth or seventh-man role and thriving in that role before he got hurt, he’s made significant progress,” Spoelstra said.

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Two summers ago, Jovic was mentioned as a potential trade chip in the failed bid with the Portland Trail Blazers for Damian Lillard, who instead was dealt to the Milwaukee Bucks. Now, in the wake of second-season struggles by Jaime Jaquez Jr., Jovic stands as one of few developmental prospects the Heat could include in a trade.

So despite not turning 22 until next month, there already is a degree of Jovic being beyond his years in a business sense.

“I’ve been here from the jump,” he said of his affinity for the franchise. “If it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t be in the situation that I’m in right now. They helped not just become a better basketball player but a better person, too.

“I feel like this is my second home; this is where I kind of grew from boy to man. Of course, I would love to stay. But, you know, things change. Everything can change. If I only learned one thing this year, it’s that this is more than just basketball, it’s a business, too. I’ll control what I can control and get better this summer.”