Tyler Herro quieted all the doubters in what was his greatest season yet— which came with the first All-Star nod of his career. (Photo via Miami Herald)

The player review series is officially back! We are nearly one month removed from the conclusion of the 2024-25 Miami Heat season, which was one of the worst since the turn of the century. Over the next several (week)days, we will be reviewing how each Heat player performed throughout the 2024-25 season, recapping important numbers, best game(s) and their future outlook with the team. Today, we will be reviewing sixth-year and newest All-Star guard Tyler Herro.

Let’s dive into it— and if you’ve missed any of our previous reviews, click below!

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Brief Overview:

2024-25 stats (77 games):

23.9 PTS

5.2 REB

5.5 AST

0.9 STLS

87.8 FT%

47.2 FG%

37.5 3P%

60.5 TS%

After having a lot more to prove, Herro was grilled with criticism during Pat Riley’s 2024 end of season presser a year ago. The legendary Heat president most notably labeled the talented guard as “fragile”— noting his disappointing availability issues once again. Herro displayed flashes of star-level potential and improvement, but struggled to stay on the court. He played in a career-low 42 games during that 2023-24 campaign. However, Herro responded as impressively as he possibly could to that adversity.

He became one of the Heat’s most reliable players, appearing in 77 of the possible 82 regular season games. The still improving 25 year-old put his head down, worked on his game and the results immediately showed. He emerged as Miami’s top scoring option and crushed all his previous career highs in what was the greatest season of his career yet. Herro made adjustments to his shot diet to focus more primarily on 3-point volume and high quality rim attacks. And the results showed.

Herro submitted career-high’s in almost every statistical category. His rise to first-time All-Star status and securing the NBA 3-point contest champion title was one of the rare highlights of a rough season for the Heat franchise.

Numbers To Note:

8.7 – Herro’s impressive year was highlighted the most by two aspects— shooting and efficiency. As mentioned, the combo guard altered his volume to mostly 3-point attempts and drives at the rim. He quietly went away from the midrange game, unless a high quality look was really there. But his volume from beyond the arc was a career-high 8.7 attempts per game. Despite the increased looks from deep, Herro still put together rock solid efficiency from those attempts. In fact, before a post All-Star break slump, he was shooting a little over 40% on his 3-pointers for most of the season.

47.2 – Despite his efficiency on three’s dipping to 37.5 by the end of the season, his overall shooting percentage remained pure. The adjustment for his game to feature more of those rim drives surely helped with that feat. And he looked significantly stronger at finishing those lay ins going downhill through traffic. His floater game remained elite. But the most impressive part of his career-best 47.2% shooting on the season was just how much his usage increased significantly.

With all the Jimmy Butler drama, Herro was essentially forced into much bigger offensive responsibility. And he didn’t disappoint.

Best game?

On Tuesday, November 12, 2024, Herro went complete video game mode with an elite 40-point masterpiece. He also added eight assists, five rebounds and four steals on 10 of 17 shooting from 3-point range. Man Wonder was on a heater, and most notably took over with the game on the line— scorching the Detroit Pistons on the road with a trio of three’s in a 50-second span to will the Heat into overtime.

Unfortunately, some classic 2024-25 Miami late-game blunders robbed the rising Herro from his career night. A Spoelstra called timeout, when the Heat were out of timeouts, ultimately buried them down the stretch. The Pistons held off Herro and Miami’s comeback attempt with a final score of 123-121.

What’s next?

A major priority for Riley and the Heat’s front office this summer will be bringing in star-level help for Herro and Adebayo. Although Herro proved he is capable of being a top scorer, it isn’t the most ideal role. Defenses zeroed in on him on a nightly basis— some successfully removing him from the game, and others still getting cooked by Herro’s efforts regardless. Considering his availability was at the best of his six-year career, the Heat will want that out of Herro moving forward.

Getting another proven All-Star can help take so much of the offensive pressure off of him to help make that happen. When it comes to Herro himself, there is still on-court work to be done. The defense is a facet that although has gotten better, it’s still far from being considered a two-way wing threat that this league covets. He wasn’t the greatest when it came down to efficiency in the clutch overall during this past season, along with a few playoff stinkers in the first round. Coming through in the moments that Miami needs him the most will only significantly help his rise into his prime years.

With his ignitable scoring talent and improving playmaking, he should be a premier offensive focal point for the Heat for years to come.

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