WEDNESDAY, 4:03pm: Johnson underwent successful surgery today, the team announced. No timetable was relayed regarding the point guard’s return to action.
MONDAY, 12:41pm: Heat combo guard Tyler Johnson will miss upward of two months after having left shoulder surgery later this week, league sources told Shams Charania of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). The operation on Johnson’s rotator cuff will take place Wednesday, the team announced. A formal recovery timetable will be determined after the procedure, Charania adds (on Twitter), though Johnson said he’s been told it will take him 60 days to heal, according to Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel (Twitter link). That would bring him back with roughly two weeks to go in the regular season.
The 23-year-old said recently that he wasn’t planning surgery on the bothersome shoulder, which has been an issue for years and has restricted his movement, nonetheless adding that he expected to converse with doctors about the prospect of going under the knife, notes Aric Dilalla of the Miami Herald. Johnson has been out for the past two games, but the ailment dates to his time in college at Fresno State, writes Jason Lieser of The Palm Beach Post.
Johnson’s role in the rotation has increased this year, and he took on backup point guard duties after the Heat traded Mario Chalmers to the Grizzlies in early November. Miami signed Johnson to a multiyear deal last season after he ran through a pair of 10-day contracts, and that minimum-salary contract runs out at the end of June, when he’ll be set for restricted free agency.
Beno Udrih, whom the Heat acquired in the Chalmers trade, figures to see the bulk of the action backing up Goran Dragic in Johnson’s stead, making it more difficult for the Heat to unload Udrih and his salary of more than $2.17MM in a tax-dodging maneuver. Miami faces repeat-offender tax penalties if it doesn’t trim roughly $5.5MM from its payroll to slip beneath the $84.74MM tax threshold by the last day of the regular season. The Heat aren’t eligible to apply for either a disabled player cap exception or the hardship provision of a 16th roster spot.
If the Heat didn’t need shooting before, which they did, they definitely need it now. Tyler has had issues with his shoulders for a while. He must have had some kind of setback recently to cause him to have to have surgery immediately, rather than after the season, as he was looking to do.
Should also mention that the Heat will have to be more cognizant of defending PGs, with Johnson out. We’ll need to see more Richardson, and Winslow could get more opportunities there as well