Any way you cut it, Miami Heat forward Nikola Jovic has an injury, and for a player who is critical to the next step this team takes, that’s not good news. But reports have varied, pretty wildly, on just how severe Jovic’s ankle problem is, with veteran Heat beat reporters clapping back at reports from Serbia of a broken ankle.

We know that Jovic originally suffered the injury during a workout with the Heat at the Kaseya Center in Miami last month. Concerns were raised when photos showed him in a walking boot. Since then, he has been unable to train with his home country, Serbia, ahead of the Paris Olympics, and he was held out of the team’s first warm-up game, Friday against France.

According to Meridian Sport (via NBC Sports), Jovic has a fracture in the ankle that will force him to miss all of the Olympics, an injury that would likely keep Jovic out for the start of the NBA season, too.  But the Heat fired back at that notion through the Miami Herald and South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

“Despite reports from European media outlets that forward Nikola Jovic has a fractured ankle and will miss the Olympics for Serbia, the Miami Heat’s medical staff is defining that injury as a sprain, as well as a metatarsal fracture, with no formal Heat determination yet on Jovic’s Olympic status,” the Sun-Sentinel’s Ira Winderman wrote.

Nikola Jovic a Key Member of Serbia Olympics Team

Jovic is a key part of a Serbia team that won a silver medal at the 2023 World Cup and is a favorite to hit the podium again in Paris. If he is unable to play for Serbia, at least at this point, that final decision is with the national team, not the Heat, But at this point, the Heat have not yet cleared him to participate in Serbia’s practices and games.

Here’s how the Miami Herald put it: “Jovic has not yet been medically cleared by the Heat to take part in the Olympics, which begin later this month. While the Heat has not yet ruled out the possibility of clearing Jovic ahead of the Olympics, according to a league source, Serbia’s national federation will make the formal decision on his status for the competition even if he’s cleared by the Heat.”

But the report in the Herald also made clear that the Heat expect Jovic to be “ready and available” for the start of training camp on October 1.

Heat Looking for a Breakout Year

Jovic obviously wants to play in the Olympics and helped use a strong performance in the World Cup (10.1 points, 56.6% shooting) last summer as a springboard to improve last season. The Heat have brought the 21-year-old along slowly, but over the last 14 games of 2023-24, Jovic averaged 11.1 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2.1 assists in 23.7 minutes.

He had five games in which he played 30 minutes or more, and in those games, he was outstanding: 17.4 points, 6.4 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 53.6% shooting and 50.0% 3-point shooting. Certainly, Jovic has shown signs of being worthy of a bigger role.

In all, Jovic averaged 7.7 points and 4.2 rebounds in 46 games. He shot 39.9% from the 3-point line.

Of course, as the Heat continue to weigh how to potentially change the roster going into next season, Jovic is a crucial piece. If Miami does get involved in a major trade for another star player, it is all but certain that Jovic would be one of the players another team would ask for in a deal.

In the meantime, Jovic having a breakout year in 2024-25 is one of the keys to the Heat’s potential improvement if no deal is made. Either way, they’re going to want that ankle to heal up fast.