By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
Nikola Jovic will be sidelined for at least four weeks.
In addition to confirming a fracture in the second metacarpal of his right hand on Tuesday afternoon, the Miami Heat announced the 21-year-old Serbian combo forward will be in a splint and re-evaluated in four weeks.
He was hurt during the most recent edition of NBA Sundays, against the Milwaukee Bucks in Fiserv Forum.
Considering the recovery timetable stretching to at least four weeks, Jovic will sit out several more games. Depending on his progress, he might be forced to the sidelines for the remainder of the 2024-25 Regular Season.
Over 46 appearances so far in his third NBA campaign, he averaged a career-high 10.7 points per contest alongside 3.9 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 0.8 steals, and 0.3 blocks per game. He was featured in 46 team outings, including ten starts.
Head coach Erik Spoelstra will be digging deeper in the rotation, hoping to improve on a 26-30 W-L tally, currently enough for ninth place in the Eastern Conference standings, 5.5 games safe inside the Play-In zone, and five games away from the top six seeds leading directly into the 2025 Playoffs.
Jovic was selected with the 27th overall pick of the 2022 NBA draft. Besides moving to the league based in North America, he was upgraded from the junior to the senior level with the Serbian national team en route to winning silver in the FIBA World Cup 2023 and bronze in the Olympic Games 2024.