Heat forward Nikola Jovic played just 12 seconds before suffering an elbow injury Monday against Toronto. (Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images)
The Miami Heat were already down two rotation players heading into Monday’s game against the Toronto Raptors. Heat reserve Pelle Larsson is currently dealing with an ankle sprain, while star guard Tyler Herro was a late scratch with a nagging toe injury.
Thus, an opportunity was available for Nikola Jovic to seize amid a poor start to his season. However, it came crashing down — literally — 12 seconds into his first stint.
With 3:38 left in the first quarter, Jovic suffered a hard fall on a dunk attempt and injured his right elbow. At first, it appeared he suffered an injury that required a stretcher. But that was not the case; instead, departing with an arm/elbow brace. He did not return, with second-year Keshad Johnson assuming his minutes the remainder of the night.
Erik Spoelstra provides update, claims Heat hopefully ‘dodged a bullet’:
Jovic’s X-rays came back negative, according to Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra. Though they will undergo further testing to make sure it wasn’t serious.
“It was a hard fall,” Spoelstra told reporters after the Heat’s 106-96 loss. “Hopefully, it looks like we dodged a bullet on that one. He came down really hard and split his elbow open, so it was bleeding. But the (X-Ray scan) came back negative, which is a good thing. But that will be sore for a while. We’ll get (him) and MRI tomorrow just to make sure there wasn’t anything else that we saw. But the bones are fine.
“Crazy Serbian. I couldn’t believe he was smiling,” Spoelstra joked. “He was laughing when we all went up to him. It was his way of lightening the (situation). He probably saw the look in all of our faces.”
Asked Erik Spoelstra about Nikola Jovic’s hard fall, explained that they believed they “dodged a bullet” as X-Rays were negative.
“Crazy Serbian, I couldn’t believe he was smiling, he was laughing…he probably saw the look on all of our faces…split the elbow open.” #HeatNation pic.twitter.com/VssHPAMIVh
— Zachary Weinberger (@ZachWeinberger) December 16, 2025
That’s about as good an update as anyone could’ve possibly hoped, given the circumstances. It remains to be seen how much time he will miss if the injury is, indeed, insignificant. But avoiding a serious injury at any measure is important, even if his start to the season has been underwhelming.
Through 18 games entering Monday, Jovic was averaging 7.6 points, 3.7 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game. He was shooting 39.0 percent shooting and 28.3 percent from 3-point range. It’s been an up-and-down — mostly down — year for the 22-year-old forward. Hopefully, Jovic laughing about his injury is an indication he will return sooner rather than later.
The Miami Heat begin a three-game road trip Thursday, Dec. 18, against the Brooklyn Nets.
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