{"id":86890,"date":"2024-07-22T13:26:20","date_gmt":"2024-07-22T17:26:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=86890"},"modified":"2024-07-22T13:26:20","modified_gmt":"2024-07-22T17:26:20","slug":"heat-nikola-jovic-injury-update-paris-olympics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/07\/22\/heat-nikola-jovic-injury-update-paris-olympics\/","title":{"rendered":"Potential Heat Starter Gets Injury Update Ahead of Paris Olympics"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Miami Heat forward <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/jovicni01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Nikola Jovic<\/a> \u201cis progressing in his recovery from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.miamiherald.com\/sports\/nba\/miami-heat\/article290265674.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a sprained left ankle\/fractured toe<\/a>,\u201d according to the Miami Herald\u2019s Anthony Chiang.<\/p>\n<p>The 21-year-old sustained his injuries in June during an on-court drill.<\/p>\n<h2>Heat\u2019s Nikola Jovi\u0107 Gets Injury Update Ahead of Paris Olympics<\/h2>\n<p>Miami \u201cexpects Jovic to be ready and available for the start of training camp on Oct. 1,\u201d Chiang adds. There also remains a possibility that Jovic will be healthy enough to play in the Paris Olympics, per the Heat (h\/t the South Florida Sun Sentinel\u2019s Ira Winderman).<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Per Heat: Nikola Jovic is progressing in his rehab and there still is the possibility he will be able to play in the Olympics. Jovic remains listed on the Serbia roster for the Paris Games. He was listed as spraining his ankle during a workout at Kaseya Center.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Ira Winderman (@IraHeatBeat) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/IraHeatBeat\/status\/1814708664512475181?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">July 20, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Not only is he still on Serbia\u2019s roster, he played in an exhibition against <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/hachiru01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Rui Hachimura<\/a> and Japan over the weekend.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Nikola Jovic is back in action today for Serbia in an Olympic warmup game, playing alongside Nikola Jokic. So that sprained ankle, as the Heat stressed amid outside rumors, proved to be as short term as the Heat said from the outset.<a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/l6wiNb5y5H\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/l6wiNb5y5H<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Ira Winderman (@IraHeatBeat) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/IraHeatBeat\/status\/1815106868626272371?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">July 21, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Serbia, led by three-time NBA MVP <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/jokicni01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Nikola Jokic<\/a>, will be in Group C for the Paris Olympics. There, they\u2019ll face the star-laden United States, emergent South Sudan and fiery Puerto Rico.<\/p>\n<p>Team USA are currently the favorites to win the gold medal. However, after their pre-Olympic exhibitions, it\u2019s clear they have much work to do. Though they went 3-0, their first unit <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/07\/18\/team-usas-bam-adebayo-a-starter-role-alongside-anthony-davis\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">has been out-of-sync<\/a> and their perimeter defense has been largely unimpressive. Should the Serbian contingent of Jokic, Jovic, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/bogdabo01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bogdan Bogdanovic<\/a> catch fire, they could upset USA Basketball.<\/p>\n<h3>What\u2019s Next For Nikola Jovic?<\/h3>\n<p>In 2023-24, Jovic had his best season yet. Starting in 38 of the 48 games he played in, the 2022 No. 27 pick averaged 7.7 points and 4.2 rebounds in 19.5 minutes per game. He also shot a sizzling 39.9 percent from 3. Factoring in his growth as an on-ball defender as well, he\u2019s become a prototypical stretch-four for the Heat.<\/p>\n<p>Next season, Jovic is presumably set to start again, likely alongside <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/r\/roziete01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Terry Rozier<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/herroty01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tyler Herro<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/butleji01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jimmy Butler<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/a\/adebaba01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bam Adebayo<\/a>. However, it\u2019s also possible that he comes off of the bench. Looking to enhance their size down low, Miami selected 7-foot-0 center <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/w\/wareke01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kel\u2019el Ware<\/a> with the 15th overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft.<\/p>\n<p>Ware has excelled in Summer League, demonstrating his potential as a shot-blocker, floor-spacer, finisher, and rebounder. With Adebayo playing the bulk of his minutes beside <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/davisan02.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Anthony Davis<\/a> on Team USA, it adds credence to the belief that Ware could start next season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Miami Heat forward Nikola Jovic \u201cis progressing in his recovery from a sprained left ankle\/fractured toe,\u201d according to the Miami Herald\u2019s Anthony Chiang. The 21-year-old sustained his injuries in June during an on-court drill. Heat\u2019s Nikola Jovi\u0107 Gets Injury Update Ahead of Paris Olympics Miami \u201cexpects Jovic to be ready and available for the start [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":86897,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16,1608,62,3,60],"tags":[49143,4745,72,4515,1052],"class_list":["post-86890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-heat","category-basketball","category-nba","category-news","category-olympics","tag-kelel-ware","tag-nba-injuries","tag-nikola-jokic","tag-nikola-jovic","tag-olympics"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86890","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86890"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86890\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86897"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86890"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}