Kel'el Ware, Heat youth step forward in preseason loss to Spurs

MIAMI — It’s a bit early to determine if this will be a developmental season for the Miami Heat.

Unless, of course, you listened to coach Erik Spoelstra immediately prior to Wednesday night’s 112-107 preseason loss to the San Antonio Spurs at Kaseya Center.

“Just to be clear,” Spoelstra said, “everybody on our roster, it’s a developmental year. We would hope to improve everybody.”

With more next-gen talent to develop than in recent seasons, the Heat offered a taste of the possibilities, particularly with 2025 first-round pick Kasparas Jakucionis making his preseason debut, and with 2024 second-round pick Pelle Larsson also getting his first run of the preseason.

Combined with a bounce-back effort from 2024 first-round pick Kel’el Ware and a return to aggression by 2023 first-rounder Jaime Jaquez Jr., this was a night about compelling future thought, even as the Heat fell to 0-3 in the preseason.

While the play of veterans Tyler Herro, Bam Adebayo, Norman Powell and Andrew Wiggins likely will carry ultimate sway regarding the success of the season, the kid stuff provided a night of promise.

“We didn’t get the win, but the second unit played winning basketball,” Spoelstra said.

A game after being called out again by Spoelstra for uneven play, Ware closed with 29 points and 12 rebounds, shooting 3 of 6 on 3-pointers.

“Kel’el, he put a lot of it together tonight,” Spoelstra said. “That’s definitely progress.”

In his Heat debut, Jakucionis had four assists in his first four minutes, closing with eight points and 10 assists.

“You see his tenaciousness and just his approach to everything is full speed,” Spoelstra said. “It was great to have him out there.”

Cast more as an attacking wing role than the role at point guard he played in the first two exhibitions, Jaquez played with productive aggression, scoring 19.

“Offensively, he’s such a downhill force,” Spoelstra said of Jaquez. “We need him to be aggressive.”

And even in the absence of noteworthy statistics, Larsson’s energy energized, just as it did in summer league, just as it did for Sweden’s national team at EuroBasket.

“Pelle in his minutes was really good,” Spoelstra said.

Five Degrees of Heat from Wednesday night’s exhibition:

— 1. Another twist: While Ware again remained out of the starting lineup, there was a change this time, with Dru Smith inserted into the starting five, opening alongside Nikola Jovic, Adebayo, Powell and Wiggins.

With Larsson (quadriceps) and Jakucionis (wrist) available for the first time after dealing with ailments during camp, it afforded Spoelstra greater depth in the backcourt.

Jaquez had been the de facto starting point guard in the first two exhibitions, with the expectation that Davion Mitchell will be the opening-night starter in that spot, as Herro continues to recover from last month’s ankle surgery.

The Heat still were four players down, with Herro (ankle), Mitchell (calf), Terry Rozier (hamstring) and Simone Fontecchio (leg) again out.

Smith played only the first half, closing with six points on 2-of-2 shooting on 3-pointers, as he works back from December’s Achilles tear. That had Jaquez back at point guard to start the third quarter.

“You’ve got to be able to play different roles,” Jaquez said of his preseason.

— 2. Waiting game: It again proved to be a case of either/or with Ware and Adebayo.

After the two closed last season together in the starting lineup, Ware this time entered for the first time when Adebayo went to the bench with 3:35 left in the opening period. Adebayo later entered for Ware midway through the second period.

Ware entered fourth off the Heat bench, after Jaquez, Keshad Johnson and Larsson.

Ware then had his moments early in the second period, first draining a pair of 3-pointers and then blocking a shot of 7-foot-5 Spurs center Victor Wembanyama (10 points, five assists, four rebounds and two blocks in 22 minutes). Ware exited with 14 points and seven rebounds in his initial nine-minute stint.

It also was Ware in, Adebayo out in the second half, the two yet to play alongside through the first three of the Heat’s six exhibitions.

Of Spoelstra’s prodding, Ware said, “I always take anything Coach says as motivation.”

— 3. Preseason debuts: Larsson and Jakucionis wound up playing together in the backcourt, just as they had during summer league.

Each immediately offered a hustle play, with Larsson drawing a foul while fighting over a screen, and Jakucionis coming up with a steal that led to an assist for a Johnson transition dunk.

Jakucionis followed up with an assist for a driving Jaquez dunk, with Larsson stepping up on the next possession with a corner 3-pointer.

“I’m just trying to play fast,” Jakucionis said of his effort. “I tried to do my job.”

Larsson struggled with his shot, an ongoing concern, closing with four points on 1-of-6 shooting in 16 minutes.

— 4. Powell play: A game after scoring 18 points in 16 minutes in Monday night’s loss to the visiting Milwaukee Bucks, Powell this time scored 18 in 26.

Powell remained on the floor with the second unit in the third quarter, perhaps an indication that a reserve role might not be out of the question.

Powell closed 6 of 13 from the field and 5 of 5 from the line.

“He’s a scorer,” Spoelstra said. “You could see in the second unit where that could work.”

— 5. Still a struggle: After shooting 0 for 5 in Saturday’s preseason-opening loss to the Orlando Magic in Puerto Rico and then 1 of 3 in Monday night’s loss to the Bucks, Adebayo this time shot 3 of 10, including a 1-of-8 start.

He closed with nine points and four rebounds in 22 minutes.

“Tonight was a little better,” Spoelstra said. “The shots just didn’t go down.”

The Heat captain said the priorities in the preseason extend beyond statistics.

“We have a job to do, which is somewhat play a little bit and then coach these young guys,” he said of the Heat’s veterans.