‘Super talented, super athletic’ draft picks Kel’el Ware, Pelle Larsson headline Heat summer roster
The Miami Heat’s NBA roster currently includes 13 players on guaranteed standard contracts for next season. Two of the most intriguing names on that list will be on the court playing in games for the next few weeks.
This year’s two Heat draft picks: center Kel’el Ware and guard Pelle Larsson.
Ware, who was taken by the Heat with the 15th overall pick in the first round of the NBA Draft, and Larsson, who was selected by the Heat with the 44th overall pick in the second round of the draft, headline the Heat’s 14-man summer league roster this year.
“Those guys are super talented, super athletic,” Heat forward Cole Swider said after practicing alongside Ware and Larsson for the first time, when Miami’s summer league team opened training camp Thursday in San Francisco. “Both have a good basketball IQ. They seem like they’re hungry and eager to learn, which is always good for first-year players. I’m excited.”
As one of the two players from the Heat’s season-ending roster who is also on the Heat’s summer league team this year, Swider is among the most experienced players on the summer roster. As two rookies fresh out of college who have yet to play in an NBA game, Ware and Larsson are two of the most inexperienced players on the Heat’s summer league squad.
But Swider can already see their potential.
“Kel’el is a physical monster,” Swider said. “You can throw the ball anywhere and he’s going to catch it and finish it. He reminds me a lot of Dereck Lively and what he was able to do this year. He has all the measurables and definitely wants to learn and get better.
“Then Pelle has unbelievable talent. You can tell he has a great nose for the basketball and he’s deceivingly athletic. It was well-noted in his predraft process of who he is as a shooter and some of the things that he can do on the defensive end. But he was throwing down some dunks today and I was like, ‘Wow, this guy’s athleticism is underrated.’”
Ware and Larsson will have an opportunity to flash those skills and that upside on Saturday, when the Heat plays its first summer league game of the year against the Golden State Warriors’ summer squad at Chase Center (6:30 p.m., ESPN) in San Francisco. It marks the first of three games for the Heat’s summer team in the California Classic before moving on to Las Vegas Summer League.
Standing at 7 feet and 240 pounds with a 7-5 wingspan, Ware is just 20 years old. In college, he displayed the ability to knock down three-pointers and play as a standout rim protector while also showing nice touch around the basket.
Ware will need to continue to add weight to his long frame, noting that he has “already been in contact with the strength coaches here, telling me that I’m going to be in the weight room with them a lot.”
But Ware’s three-and-D skill set as a 7-footer is why the Heat drafted him. The hope is that he will eventually end up being able to complement Bam Adebayo to form an effective double-big frontcourt for Miami.
“He has a lot of versatility, a lot of talent,” Heat player development coach and summer league head coach Dan Bisaccio said of Ware. “So we’re really excited to start the process of unlocking that. The most important thing is we want to make sure that from Day 1, any draft pick we get and any player we get on this roster is that they start working on their Heat habits, the things that translate from summer league to the season.”
Ware averaged 15.9 points, 9.9 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.9 blocks per game while shooting 58.6 percent from the field and 17 of 40 (42.5 percent) from three-point range in 30 games (30 starts) as a sophomore at Indiana last season.
“I don’t think it’s much of trying to prove myself,” Ware said of his approach to summer league. “It’s just going out there and playing the basketball that I’ve been playing. Just keeping up with what I’ve been doing.”
What does Ware hope to take away from his first summer league experience?
“Anything that [the Heat] can teach me and help me learn how to be a better person and a better player,” he said.
As for Larsson, he’s known for his three-point shooting after going an eye-opening 47 of 110 (42.7 percent) from three-point range as a senior at Arizona this past season.
But Larsson, 23, also brings an NBA-ready combination of size and athleticism. He’s listed at 6-foot-6 and 215 pounds, and recorded the eighth-highest max vertical leap at the NBA Draft combine (38 inches).
“For Pelle, we’re extremely excited at the versatility he can bring on both the offensive and defensive ends,” Bisaccio said. “... A lot of the different things of guarding different positions. On offense, yeah he can shoot it. But we want to see that next level. What else could you do with the ball? Can you be a playmaker for us? Can you make reads from there?”
Larsson grew up in Sweden and moved to the United States in 2020 to begin his college basketball career at Utah before transferring to Arizona after his freshman season. Now, he’s adjusting to the Heat’s way of doing things.
“I think my play style fits very well with this team,” Larsson said. “I think every guy on the Heat does a lot of things. It’s not just one specific thing. There’s a lot that goes into it. All guys are two-way guys on two ends of the floor, defense and offense. They can do a lot of things in a lot of different situations. That’s just the type of player I am — I fit into that category. I’m just a guy that can do a lot of things and play on both ends.”
During the predraft process, Ware drew comparisons to NBA players such as Indiana Pacers center Myles Turner and Cleveland Cavaliers center Jarrett Allen. Larson has drawn NBA comparisons to Phoenix Suns guard Grayson Allen and Memphis Grizzlies guard Desmond Bane.
Two of the Heat’s three two-way contract players are also on this year’s summer roster — forward Keshad Johnson and guard Zyon Pullin. Both Johnson and Pullin committed to two-way deals with the Heat after going undrafted last month.
“Above all, we want these guys to go out there and we want them to compete,” said Bisaccio, the former Heat video coordinator who has been with the organization for the past 10 seasons. “I’m not going to give them this full playbook full of things and terms. We want to make sure that they have a couple of things on their checklists, especially these young guys. But at the end of the day, we want them to display winning habits. That’s the most important thing and that’s what really translates to playing on the court in the NBA.”
HEAT’S SUMMER LEAGUE ROSTER
No. 44 Gabe Brown, F, 6-7, 210, NBA rookie
No. 57 JC Butler, F, 6-5, 190, NBA rookie
No. 53 Josh Christopher, G, 6-4, 215, Two years in NBA
No. 54 Caleb Daniels, G, 6-4, 210, NBA rookie
No. 20 Keshad Johnson, F, 6-6, 225, NBA rookie
No. 9 Pelle Larsson, G, 6-6, 215, NBA rookie
No. 17 Zyon Pullin, G, 6-4, 205, NBA rookie
No. 59 Neal Sako, C, 6-11, 225, NBA rookie
No. 50 Isaiah Stevens, G, 6-0, 185, NBA rookie
No. 21 Cole Swider, F, 6-8, 225, Two years in NBA
No. 7 Kel’el Ware, C, 7-0, 240, NBA rookie
No. 51 Bryson Warren, G, 6-3, 175, NBA rookie
No. 52 Warren Washington, C, 7-0, 225, NBA rookie
No. 15 Alondes Williams, G, 6-4, 210, Two years in NBA
HEAT SUMMER LEAGUE SCHEDULE
California Classic (played at Chase Center in San Francisco)
Saturday at 6:30 p.m. vs. Golden State Warriors, ESPN
Sunday at 4:30 p.m. vs. Sacramento Kings (split squad), NBA TV
Wednesday at 7 p.m. vs. Los Angeles Lakers, ESPN2
Las Vegas Summer League (played at UNLV)
July 13 at 6:30 p.m. vs. Boston Celtics, NBA TV
July 15 at 6 p.m. vs. Oklahoma City Thunder, ESPNU
July 17 at 3 p.m. vs. Dallas Mavericks, ESPN2
July 19 at 9 p.m. vs. Toronto Raptors, ESPN+ and ESPN3
Will play at least one additional game on either July 20 or 21 based on results from previous four
(All times Eastern)
