It has been a very up and down second season for the former No. 10 pick of the 2015 NBA Draft and collegiate national champion, Justise Winslow. He has at times looked like he was making the second-year leap into being a dependable starter. He had the best game of his young career on December 22 against the Los Angeles Lakers in which he had 23 points, 13 rebounds and four assists.
He has also missed 18 of a possible 36 games due to a shoulder issue and now it seems that issue will more than likely cause him to miss the rest of the season.
.@MiamiHEAT forward Justise Winslow will have surgery on right shoulder and miss rest of season
STORY: https://t.co/OC5HDmOFBG pic.twitter.com/pr4Sb9zQzH
— NBA.com (@NBAcom) January 5, 2017
Winslow is averaging 10.9 points, 5.2 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game this season in 34.7 minutes.
This is another big blow for a Miami Heat team that has dealt with more injury issues than maybe any other franchise in the NBA thus far in the 2016-17 season, as every contributing player has missed time due to injury. Not to mention the fact that the team is without and will probably never have Chris Bosh in uniform again due to his blood clotting issue.
Even with Miami’s 107-102 win in Sacramento Wednesday night, they are still sitting at 11-26 on the season and appear to have little hope to return to the postseason.
The Heat’s proliferation of injuries and loss of hall of famer Dwyane Wade over the summer all point to their being a complete rebuild and tearing up of the roster in South Beach.
Don’t be surprised if high-priced, former All-NBA point guard Goran Dragic is dealt in the next few months to afford the Heat’s more cap space and young assets as they head into their first rebuild in quite some time.
