Heat assistant Keith Smart stepping away from duties for cancer treatment

Miami Heat assistant coach Keith Smart will step away from the team for the second time this season as he gets set to undergo his second skin cancer treatment.

Smart left the Heat in December, returning in January following his first successful treatment.

"I never felt anything," Smart told Jason Lieser of the Palm Beach Post after the procedure. "I was just away. There were no symptoms or anything. I'm my same self I was before the surgery."

Miami doesn't yet have a timetable for him.

"All of us were rocked by it when he first told us, but his positive attitude and relentless perseverance is infectious," head coach Erik Spoelstra said upon Smart's return in January. "Even when we first got the news, he said it so matter-of-factly. He was all about, 'I'm gonna get this, now let's talk about the game plan.' I'm sitting there stunned and shell-shocked. It's great to have him back."

Smart has spent the past 15 seasons alternating between assistant and head coaching positions, spending time with the Sacramento Kings, Golden State Warriors, and Cleveland Cavaliers in addition to Miami.