Heat’s Nikola Jovic recently photographed wearing walking boot. The latest on his injury

The Miami Heat’s injury issues from this past season have apparently continued this offseason.

Heat forward Nikola Jovic was recently photographed wearing a walking boot on his left foot, creating some fans of the Heat and Serbian national team to worry about his health.

Jovic is dealing with a sprained left ankle that he suffered during a recent basketball workout, according to a person with knowledge of the situation. He’ll be re-evaluated in two weeks.

Jovic, who turned 21 on Sunday, closed his second NBA season as the Heat’s starting power forward. He flashed his impressive combination of size and skill at 6-foot-10 and 205 pounds after becoming the Heat’s full-time starting power forward in February, averaging 9.5 points, 4.2 rebounds and 2.1 assists in 22.2 minutes per game on 47.6 percent shooting from the field and 39 percent shooting on 4.5 three-point attempts per game while starting his final 26 appearances of the regular season.

Jovic also was used as a starter in each of the Heat’s five playoff games this past season.

Jovic is one of seven players from the Heat’s season-ending roster currently locked into a guaranteed salary for next season, as he’s set to make $2.5 million in the third year of his rookie-scale contract.

This summer, Jovic is expected to play for the Serbian national team in the 2024 Olympics in Paris. Jovic is on Serbia’s preliminary 16-man roster for the Paris Olympics along with fellow NBA players like three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets and Bogdan Bogdanovic of the Atlanta Hawks.

With the Olympics beginning on July 26, Jovic has some time to recover from his sprained ankle and still represent Serbia on the global stage.

Jovic, who was drafted by the Heat with the 27th overall pick in 2022, was sidelined by a back injury for a large chunk of his rookie NBA season. But he missed just two games because of an injury this past season, sitting out a pair of games in March with a strained right hamstring.