Kentucky Basketball: How Five Former Cats Are Doing as NBA gets underway

Tyler Herro – Heat G

Before the season started, Tyler Herro said he belonged in the conversation of players like Trae Young, Luka Doncic, and Ja Morant.

"“I feel like I’m in the same conversation as those guys, the young guys coming up in the league who can be All-Stars, Superstars one day — Luka, Trae Ja, you know, those guys, I feel like my name should be in that category too,” Herro said on the Bally Sports Miami Mic’d Up podcast."

And through three games, he’s proven it.

While Young, Doncic, and Morant are starters in the NBA, Herro is doing his damage off the bench. The third-year guard is averaging 23.3 points, shooting 53% from the field, and grabbing seven boards a game in the Miami Heat’s 2-1 start to the year.

Herro posted his seventh-career double-double against the Indiana Pacers in a loss as he dropped 30 points and came down with 10 rebounds.

But his best game of the year so far, in my opinion, was in an opening-night win against the Milwaukee Bucks. Herro chipped in 27 points, six rebounds, and five assists in just 24 minutes in the 137-95 victory.

South Beach’s young star could be a starter on over half the teams in the NBA but has found a solid role for the Heat as their sixth man.

Flashing back to his 2018-19 season at Kentucky, Herro was the only player on that team to start all 37 games where he averaged 14 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 2.5 assists.

Do you remember February 27, 2019, where he pumped in a career-high 29 points,  draining 9 of 10 field goals and all of six of his free throws, to rally Big Blue to a comeback victory over the  Arkansas Razorbacks?