Miami Heat: How Serious Is Dwyane Wade's Hamstring Injury?

Although it was just a meaningless pre-season contest, the Miami Heat's debut at American Airlines arena offered fans and local media the opportunity to get a glimpse of the team that some view as one of the Eastern Conference powerhouses.

For the most part, the signs were good. LeBron James had 18 points and four assists, while Chris Bosh chipped in 20. One especially nice play saw Carlos Arroyo lead a three-on-one fast break as he dropped the pass off to Mike Miller who shuffled it in to James for the finish.

James still needs to work on his mid-range game, and when he air-balled a jumper early in the game, the sound of a thousand LeBron-haters' keyboards could be clearly heard typing up a storm from beyond the arena.

But while there were many positive signs for the Heat in their debut, one was a bit unnerving: After playing only three minutes and scoring the game's first basket, Dwyane Wade had to leave the game with a sore hamstring.

He will almost certainly be held out for the remainder of pre-season play as a precaution, but the moment, which had the entire arena gasping, begged the question: Is this a sign of a more serious problem for Wade? Will it rear its head during the season at any point?

At the start of the fourth quarter, Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra told Cheryl Miller that it didn't look bad but he'll know more "shortly." 

Dwyane Wade will assuredly be prepared for the grind of the regular season when Oct. 26 arrives, but if the hamstring injury rears its head again, will it possibly de-rail the team's goal of challenging for a title this season?

Stay tuned.