Tuesday was a significant day for the Miami Heat because it marked the start of training camp. But Tuesday was especially significant for Heat guard Dru Smith because it marked his official practice since sustaining a season-ending torn Achilles tendon in December.
After spending the last nine months rehabbing and recovering from his Achilles injury, Smith was only recently cleared to begin 5-on-5 court work and was a full participant in the Heat’s first practice of training camp on Tuesday at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton.
“What he has is a superpower. I wish you could take some of that and just apply it to other players,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said when asked about Smith’s participation in practice Tuesday less than a year after tearing his Achilles. “When I say superpower or superpowers, it’s a level of grit, it’s a level of fortitude, perseverance. However, you want to describe it, he has no quit in him.”
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Making Smith’s recovery even more impressive is the fact that he has spent much of the last two years rehabbing from significant setbacks, as he also sustained a knee injury in November 2023 that cut his 2023-24 season short before returning and then suffering a season-ending Achilles injury last December.
In addition to the injuries that Smith has needed to overcome, he has also kept pushing forward despite already being waived by the Heat four different times before eventually being brought back.
“He’s just absolutely relentless with his approach every day,” Spoelstra continued in his praise for Smith. “He does not get discouraged. I’m sure he does, but he just never shows anybody. But that’s an attitude, that’s a mind-set. That’s allowed him to fast track the process. We want to be mindful of that. I don’t want to fast track it, in terms of where he is right now. I want to keep making sure that he’s progressing these next few weeks.
“But we all love it because he inspires other guys. They see what he’s doing, they see the toughness and he was in the scrimmage [Tuesday]. He’s been playing five on five for a while, and you just saw winning play after winning play on both ends of the court.”
The Heat knew it wanted to bring back Smith this offseason despite last season’s significant injury.
So after Smith ended last season on a two-way contract with the Heat and became a restricted free agent this summer, Miami’s front office found a way to retain him. While Smith wasn’t eligible to return to the Heat on a two-way contract this season because of NBA rules, Miami instead brought him back on a standard contract worth $7.9 million over three years (with his first-year salary of $2.4 million fully guaranteed and the second and third years of the deal including conditional guarantees).
Smith’s new contract — the second standard NBA deal of his career— is further evidence of the Heat’s belief in him, as he has been a part of the Heat’s developmental program since he went undrafted out of Missouri in 2021. He has spent at least part of his first three NBA seasons with the Heat and is now on track to begin his fourth NBA season with Miami.
“It meant a lot to me, obviously,” Smith, 27, said of his new contract with the Heat. “I think it kind of showed me that they believe in me, just that I can have an impact on the game whenever I am healthy. So for me, it’s really just trying to make sure that I can make it through an 82-game season, make it through the playoffs, things like that. Because I think that if I’m able to do that, then I’ll be able to have an impact.”
The Heat’s hope is that Smith will be able to stay healthy and pick up where he left off just before he tore his Achilles nine months ago, as he had become an important part of the Heat’s bench rotation last season before going down with the non-contact injury.
Smith logged double-digit minutes in eight straight games before tearing his Achilles, establishing himself as a reliable and solid offensive option while also turning into a standout point-of-attack perimeter defender. In addition, he played the entire fourth quarter in five of the seven games leading up to his injury.
Smith averaged 6.2 points, 2.6 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.5 steals per appearance while shooting 50.8% from the field and 53.3% from three-point range in 14 games (one start) for the Heat last season before being sidelined with the season-ending injury
“We knew that we wanted to rehab him and get him back,” Spoelstra said of the Heat’s plan for Smith this past offseason. “I communicated that as many times as I could. But of course, if you’re a player in that situation and it’s your second injury, you probably have an eyebrow up and saying, ‘Yeah, sure. You probably do like me, but it’s a business.’ And he just stayed the course.
“He just has that sticktuitiveness, where he’s just going to keep on going every day. That’s that fortitude you would love everybody to have. That contract was well-earned. We’ve had a lot more guys quit after being transitioned or if you want to use a harsher word, cut. I think we’ve cut him or transitioned him a record amount of times more than anybody else. … He just stayed with it and trusted the process, and here we are.”
THIS AND THAT
▪ After beginning training camp at FAU on Tuesday, the Heat will also practice in Boca Raton on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday before traveling to Puerto Rico to start the preseason against the Orlando Magic on Saturday.
How did the Heat’s first training camp practice go?
“We were able to do a lot of work,” Spoelstra said after Tuesday’s session. “Guys came in in very good shape, and so we got after it. We need to put in the work right now to learn how we want to play, No. 1. But two, to start building that connection. And the best way to do it is to get out there and compete. So we got to it a little bit earlier than we typically do. But I think this group needs it.”
▪ The only Heat players who didn’t take part in Tuesday’s practice were guards Tyler Herro and Pelle Larsson.
Herro is expected to be out until at least mid-November after undergoing surgery on his left ankle earlier this month.
Larsson, 24, is day-to-day after suffering a left quad contusion in his final EuroBasket game with Sweden on Sept. 6. He worked on the side Tuesday and put up shots after practice.
“He’s been doing more and more each day,” Spoelstra said Tuesday of Larsson. “I don’t have a timeline on it. But he’s here and he’s doing a bunch of work on the side. He’s young, so I’m sure he’ll heal fast.”
▪ FanDuel Sports Network announced Tuesday that it will broadcast all six Heat preseason games, beginning with Saturday’s preseason opener against the Magic in Puerto Rico.