Dwyane Wade Injury: Updates on Heat Star's Status and Return

Updates from Tuesday, Feb. 11

The Miami Heat's Twitter account has an update on Dwyane Wade for tonight's game against the Phoenix Suns:

This will be his 14th missed game this season.

Bleacher Report's Ethan Skolnick speculates on who will pick up Wade's minutes:

Updates from Saturday, Feb. 8

After the game, it was revealed that Dwyane Wade would be fine after cutting his thumb. Bleacher Report's Ethan J. Skolnick had the report:

Original Text:

The Miami Heat are currently 3.5 games back of the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference, and losing Dwyane Wade for any length of time would make that hill an even steeper climb.

South Florida Sun-Sentinel reporter Ira Winderman notes Wade hurt his thumb Saturday evening:

Granted, Wade has only played in 35 games for Miami this season. Some of those are due to rest, while others are due to lingering injuries that plague Wade throughout the season.

Either way, Miami is used to playing without Wade in some capacity. But, that doesn't make the idea of a serious injury any easier to stomach.

It's unclear how severe Wade's injury is, but the Heat can ill afford to lose him. He's averaging nearly 19 points per game while also chipping in 4.7 assists and 4.7 rebounds per contest.

The Pacers emergence in the East makes Wade's health more important than ever. LeBron James is still the best player in the world, but the Pacers' depth will make it difficult for the superstar to win another title with Miami without Wade being 100 percent.

Because the injury appears to be to Wade's shooting hand, it's hard to tell how much this will impact his game, but it's certainly a situation to keep an eye on moving forward.