CHICAGO — It is an awkward dance, this Miami Heat return by Tyler Herro, as the year-ago All-Star attempts to work his way back after missing the season’s first 17 games following September ankle surgery and then 13 more with a toe contusion.

And it was awkward squared on Tuesday, both before and after the Heat were annihilated 122-94 by the Minnesota Timberwolves in their most lopsided loss of the season.

Ahead of the game, at the morning shootaround, Herro was asked if he expected to be in the starting lineup.

“I’m not sure,” Herro replied. “Ask the head coach.”

So Erik Spoelstra was asked.

“I’m not giving my lineup,” Spoelstra said to the small media contingent at Target Center. “I’ll give these guys something to talk about, think about.”

And so it marinated that way for the next seven hours, until it was announced that Herro would come off the bench for the first time since April 2024, with Tuesday’s game only his third bench appearance since being named NBA Sixth Man of the Year in 2022.

Then, after the game, awkward again.

Asked whether having Herro come off the bench was a matter of a ramp up to starter’s minutes, Spoelstra said, “That’s just a decision.”

A follow-up was asked about how Spoelstra might move forward with Herro’s role, “I’m not going to get into any of that right now.”

And he didn’t.

So this time, the reverse of the morning, with Herro asked in the locker room about Spoelstra’s comments.

“It’s cool. It’s not really an adjustment,” Herro said in a quiet, measured tone, “just playing basketball.”

Asked if he thought it was Spoelstra’s intent to maintain the previous continuity, Herro replied, “Ask him.”

That next would come ahead of Thursday night’s game against the Chicago Bulls, the second stop of this four-game trip.

Such moments tend to be difficult when pride collides with continuity.

And Herro certainly did have his moments in 28:37 on Tuesday night, as a reserve playing more minutes than any starter but Norman Powell’s 30:56. In that action, Herro shot 7 of 15 for 17 points, leading the Heat’s wings with nine rebounds.

But the Heat also were outscored by 25 points when Herro was on the court, falling to 3-4 in his appearances this season, as the overall record fell to 20-17.

“There were some stretches in the second quarter where it looked good and it looked like what we needed,” Spoelstra said of Herro’s second-unit play. “For stretches, I thought the unit looked good. And then there were other stretches where the unit was getting beat by Minnesota. So we’ll work on all of it.”

While the role might be in question, there was little question that Herro appreciates what means the most going forward — attendance.

“Just being out there was my biggest thing that I wanted to feel, and that’s how I felt,” he said. “I felt good.

“I’m healthy. So I just want to be available and be healthy.”

Still, such strides require initial steps, and in that regard, Tuesday night was at least that.

“It felt good to be back healthy, be back on the court,” he said. “Obviously, I would like to have won the game, but it just felt good to be healthy.”

Considering how the Heat struggled with their halfcourt offense Tuesday, and how the team has struggled against elite defenses in recent weeks, center Bam Adebayo said there is something to be said for Herro’s presence.

“Yeah, obviously, we want him to get out there and want him to be himself as much as possible,” Adebayo said. “So it’s good to have him out there, it’s good to hear his voice. He’s another scorer for us.”

Powell, who has stepped up offensively in Herro’s absence, including 21 points on Tuesday night, agreed.

“Having him back is really important for us and what we want to do and how we want to attack the game,” Powell said. “But getting back to full strength, full health, we got to figure out our identity with that. Some guys aren’t going to get the minutes, looks, touches, whatever it is. But we can’t let that affect how we want to play on a nightly basis.”