Heat's Tyler Herro receives news he was hoping for, named All-Star for first time in his career
Miami Heat guard Tyler Herro is in the middle of his best NBA season. Herro is also on his way to his first NBA All-Star Game.
Herro will represent the Heat as an Eastern Conference All-Star reserve in the 2025 NBA All-Star Game, which will take place on Feb. 16 at Chase Center in San Francisco. It marks the first time that Herro has been selected for the All-Star Game in his six NBA seasons.
The seven All-Star reserves from each conference, which were voted on by head coaches, were revealed Thursday night on TNT.
The seven All-Star reserve spots include three frontcourt players, two guards and two players regardless of position.
The four East guards named All-Star reserves are Herro, Cleveland's Darius Garland, Detroit's Cade Cunningham and Milwaukee's Damian Lillard. In addition, Boston's Jaylen Brown, Cleveland's Evan Mobley and Indiana's Pascal Siakam were named East All-Star reserves as frontcourt players.
The Western Conference All-Star reserves are Los Angeles' Anthony Davis, Minnesota's Anthony Edwards, Los Angeles' James Harden, Memphis' Jaren Jackson Jr., Houston's Alperen Sengun, San Antonio's Victor Wembanyama and Oklahoma City's Jalen Williams.
Herro was hoping to hear the news he received Thursday night of making his first NBA All-Star Game, saying earlier this week that he was 'pretty anxious' for the announcement.
'Being an All-Star is one of the things that I would love to accomplish while I'm in this league,' Herro added. 'If it ain't this year, it will be next year. If it ain't next year, at some point we're going to make it happen.'
Herro put together a strong All-Star case based on the combination of his play and availability this season.
Herro, who turned 25 on Jan. 20, is averaging career highs in points (24.1 per game), rebounds (5.6) and assists (5.4) while also shooting a career-best 47.4 percent from the field and a career-best 40 percent from three-point range on a career-high 9.7 three-point attempts per game while missing just one game this season.
Herro also entered Thursday ranked third in the NBA in three pointers made this season with 175 behind only with Detroit's Malik Beasley (177 made threes) and Minnesota's Anthony Edwards (192 made threes).
In addition, Herro is one of only two players in the league who entered Thursday averaging at least 24 points, five rebounds and five assists per game while also shooting 45 percent or better from the field and 40 percent or better from behind the arc this season. The only other player in the NBA currently meeting those thresholds is three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets, who was named as a Western Conference All-Star starter this season.
Among the East guards who Herro beat out for an All-Star reserve spot were Atlanta's Trae Young, Charlotte's LaMelo Ball and Philadelphia's Tyrese Maxey.
The All-Star Game starters — voted on by fans, current NBA players and a media panel — were announced last week.
New York's Jalen Brunson and Cleveland's Donovan Mitchell are the two East guards voted in as starters, with New York's Karl-Anthony Towns, Milwaukee's Giannis Antetokounmpo and Boston's Jayson Tatum as the three East frontcourt players who made the cut.
The Western Conference All-Star starters are Phoenix's Kevin Durant, Los Angeles' LeBron James and Jokic in the frontcourt, and Oklahoma City's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Golden State's Stephen Curry in the backcourt.
This season's All-Star Game will look a little different. The NBA announced in mid-December that the 2025 All-Star Game will feature a new format. Next month's NBA All-Star Game in San Francisco will feature a mini-tournament with four teams and three games for the first time.
Two teams will meet in one semifinal (Game 1), and the remaining two teams will meet in the other semifinal (Game 2). The winning teams from Game 1 and Game 2 will advance to face each other in the championship (Game 3). For each game, the winner will be the first team to reach or surpass 40 points.
Each team will have eight players and be named for a TNT NBA analyst. The 24 NBA All-Star selections will be divided evenly into three teams, with the rosters drafted by TNT's 'Inside the NBA' commentators and honorary team general managers Charles Barkley, Shaquille O'Neal and Kenny Smith. The three analysts will make their respective picks for Team Chuck, Team Shaq and Team Kenny live on TNT in the NBA All-Star Draft, which will be conducted on Feb. 6.
The fourth team will be the winning team from the championship game of the Rising Stars event on Feb. 14 during All-Star Weekend.
The four teams participating in the NBA All-Star Game will compete for a prize pool of $1.8 million. Each player on the championship-winning team will receive $125,000, each player on the second-place team will receive $50,000 and each player on the third- and fourth-place teams will receive $25,000.
Along with Herro's first appearance in the NBA All-Star Game, the organization will also be represented in other events during All-Star Weekend next month.
As of Thursday night, the Heat did not yet have a participant in the All-Star Saturday Night events. But Herro is among the top candidates to compete in this year's Three-Point Contest.
Also, Heat second-year forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. was picked to take part in the Rising Stars showcase.
Rising Stars, which is the annual showcase of top first- and second-year NBA players and NBA G League standouts, will be played at 9 p.m. on Feb. 14 at Chase Center during All-Star Weekend. The event will feature four teams and three games, and will be aired live on TNT.
Jaquez also took part in Rising Stars last year as a rookie. Dwyane Wade, Udonis Haslem, Michael Beasley, Herro and Jaquez are the only five Heat players who have been multitime selections for the Rising Stars showcase.
Under the Rising Stars event's new format, Jaquez will even have a chance to qualify for this year's NBA All-Star Game as a Rising Stars participant. For the first time, the winning Rising Stars team will clinch a spot in the NBA All-Star Game's mini-tournament
In addition, Heat two-way contract players Josh Christopher and Isaiah Stevens have been selected to take part in the G League Up Next Game that will take place on Feb. 16 at Moscone Center in San Francisco during All-Star Weekend. Both Christopher and Stevens have thrived with the Heat's G League affiliate, the Sioux Falls Skyforce, this season.
The Heat (23-23) has seven games left to play before the All-Star break. Next up for the Heat is a four-game trip that begins Saturday against the San Antonio Spurs.
HASLEM'S NEW ROLE
Udonis Haslem has accepted what ESPN calls a 'full-time' job as a studio analyst, but the Heat legend remains in his executive role with the team and has given no indication that he's leaving that position.
Haslem, who has appeared on ESPN programs occasionally over the year, will now make regular appearances on NBA Today, SportsCenter, Get Up with Mike Greenberg and First Take with Stephen A. Smith. Haslem has impressed ESPN executives with his work as a studio analyst.
After Haslem suggested on ESPN after last season that Herro should move back to a bench role, Pat Riley has made clear publicly that Haslem must be careful what he says publicly about the Heat. As a result, Haslem has said on air that he is not in position to comment at length about the ongoing Jimmy Butler saga.
'ESPN – You definitely have an excellent team of ex-players already with Kendrick Perkins, Jay Williams, Tim Legler, and JJ Reddick [sic]…but you should hire Udonis Haslem permanently!' NBA legend Magic Johnson said on social media during last year's playoffs. 'He's been spectacular at breaking down the NBA playoffs – from the players' game and mentality, to the Xs and Os, as well as the philosophy of the game … Udonis has done it with intelligence, charisma, and flair. And he's funny too!'
Haslem remains around the Heat a lot in his role as vice president of basketball development, a job he accepted in November 2023.
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