MIAMI — Before, there at least were options, be it Tyler Herro moving over to his secondary assignment or Dru Smith being summoned from the end of the bench.

But with Herro still working back from his Grade 2 ankle sprain and with Smith out for the season with his Grade 3 ACL knee sprain, Josh Richardson at the moment stands as the Miami Heat’s Plan B at point guard behind Kyle Lowry.

It might not have been the assignment of choice when Richardson was brought back in the offseason in free agency, but it has become the reality of the moment.

Having been asked to handle similar dual responsibilities, Herro said he can appreciate the adjustments for Richardson, 30.

“It definitely is an adjustment, because you’re trying to balance being a shooting guard and being off the ball and being aggressive on the catch, to try to score and make plays, but more in the scoring position,” Herro said, with the Heat hosting the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday night at Kaseya Center in an NBA In-Season Tournament game.

“So you’re just having to balance the playmaking and the scoring when you’re playing the two versus the one. I think J-Rich is doing a great job with it.”

Lowry said it almost has become de rigueur for shooting guards to be cast at the point.

“I think you can learn,” Lowry said. “I think a lot of guys in our league, let’s say Steph Curry, Damian Lillard, those guys are point guards, but they are really two guards, they’re also point guards.

“Josh is a basketball player, so he can play one, two, three. He’s a basketball player. So I think certain dynamics, you don’t have to be especially something. You can play the dynamic as just a basketball player.”

The Heat added Richardson in the wake of losing Max Strus and Gabe Vincent in free agency. Cast as a combo guard, he can utilize elements of both those players. But as a point guard, it is the delicate balance of taming scoring instincts.

But not taming too much.

“It’s taking a little bit of time,” Richardson said of getting back to the instincts at point guard that he utilized in his initial Heat stint, when taken at No. 40 in the 2015 draft out of Tennessee. “But for me, the main thing right now, I just talked to one of the coaches today, actually is learning how to be aggressive for myself, because it’s good for the team.

“It’s not like I’m being selfish. It’s just like as the ball moves or as I’m bringing it down in transition and I see holes, it’s good for the team for me to be aggressive, as well. I can’t just be a set-up guy the whole game. I’ve gotta to do some other stuff.”

With Butler and Adebayo having missed recent time, Lowry has found the need to be more aggressive on offense. He said it can be the same balance for Richardson.

“It’s not a turn on and off. It’s an understanding of who’s in the game, situations, reading the game,” Lowry said. “And Josh is trying to figure that out again, of who he’s on the floor with, and time and space. He doesn’t turn off being aggressive, He just turns to say, ‘OK, I got to get Jimmy the ball, or I got to get Bam the ball,’ or, ‘I need to drive this one.’ ”

So. yes, Richardson said, aggressive in the moment when the moment calls for it. But also a pointed approach when needed.

“I play with kind of both units,” he said. “So with the first unit, it’s more so spacing, giving Jimmy and Bam kind of like an outlet. With the second unit, I kind of got to be a paint-touch guy. We have Duncan (Robinson) out there running around. So it’s kind of fluid. It’s one thing that I’ve got to figure out.”