The Miami Heat will look to improve to 7-4 in Monday's home game against the Cleveland Cavaliers at 7:30 p.m. ET, though they'll be without their star big man for a third consecutive game.
Bam Adebayo is still dealing with a sprained left big toe he sustained in Wednesday's loss to the Denver Nuggets, and he'll be held out of Monday's Eastern Conference duel, according to the NBA's official injury report.
Adebayo appeared in seven games before sustaining the injury Wednesday, averaging 22.4 points, 9.1 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.1 steals per game during that span. Now, he'll join All-Star guard Tyler Herro, who has yet to make his season debut, on the sidelines once again.
MORE: Heat All-Star Tyler Herro linked to Western Conference team by NBA analyst
What Bam Adebayo's absence means for Heat
With Adebayo sidelined during the Heat's last two games, the team started second-year center Kel’el ware in his place. Ware will likely join the starting five again Monday. During that span, the team has also started Davion Mitchell, Norman Powell, Pelle Larsson and Andrew Wiggins.
Powell and Wiggins will likely continue to lead Miami's offensive attack with Herro and Adebayo out. Nikola Jovic also logged a season-high 31 minutes off the bench without Adebayo in Saturday's win over Portland, and he has averaged 19.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 2.5 steals in 25.0 minutes per contest over Miami's last two games.
As for Adebayo, his next opportunity to play will come in Wednesday's rematch against Cleveland. The Heat are expected to provide an update on the 28-year-old's status by Tuesday night.
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