Developing Heat rookie Kel’el Ware dealing with sprained knee. And Wiggins, Mitchell out
Miami Heat rookie Kel’el Ware has settled into a more consistent role. But how and when the 20-year-old Ware is used during games continues to be inconsistent, and now he’s dealing with a new injury.
Ware will miss Monday night’s matchup against the Washington Wizards at Kaseya Center because of a sprained left knee. It marks the first game that Ware has missed with an injury or illness since sitting out the Heat’s Dec. 2 loss to the Boston Celtics because of right foot tendinitis.
But the two games before Monday’s contest against the Wizards provided a glimpse at the ebbs and flows that come with being an NBA rookie.
After starting and producing a shaky first-half performance Friday’s home win over the Indiana Pacers, Ware began that second half on the bench.
However, Ware still played and was productive down the stretch Friday — even playing the final 4:50 of the game despite not starting the second half on the court. He bounced back from a slow start to that game, recording four points and eight rebounds while posting a team-best plus/minus of plus-13 in 14 second-half minutes.
“I think it speaks to his competitive character,” Spoelstra said when asked about Ware’s encouraging second-half response Friday after beginning the third quarter on the bench. “He’s learning basically through a fire hose right now. These games have such context and meaning and consequences to them. He’s not being gifted minutes for a young guy. But there are a lot of things that are scouting report related or just competition related or context of a particular point in a game, and he’s really been good with all of that.
“I thought he had a really good impact in the second half. He could have very easily just gone the other way mentally for whatever reason. Some younger players do that in this league. But those were really important minutes in the second half and good learning lessons from the first half.”
Ware took the momentum he built in Friday’s second half and was one of the bright spots for the Heat in Sunday night’s 116-112 overtime home loss to the New York Knicks, making his 18th straight start and finishing with 12 points on 6-of-7 shooting from the field, eight rebounds and six blocks in 29 minutes. The six blocks are a new career high for Ware.
Ware was a force at the start Sunday, totaling eight points on four dunks, three rebounds and three blocks in the first quarter. The three blocks in the opening period tied Ware’s previous career high for a game.
After playing 26 minutes and posting a plus/minus of plus-2 through the first three quarters Sunday, he spent the entire fourth quarter on the bench except for entering to play the final 3.5 seconds of regulation for a defensive possession.
The Heat led by 19 with 7:10 left in the third quarter, found itself ahead by 12 with 8:29 remaining in the fourth quarter and still lost to the Knicks in overtime on Sunday. It marked the 15th loss that the Heat has blown a double-digit lead in this season, which is the second most such collapses in the NBA this season behind only the Utah Jazz.
Without Ware on the court, the Heat was outscored by six points in the fourth quarter.
“He was fine,” Spoelstra said when asked whether an injury is what kept Ware off the court for most of Sunday’s fourth period before Ware was eventually ruled out for Monday’s game against the Wizards. “We were trying to match a little bit of the perimeter stuff. We had a lead, I didn’t want the threes to get to us. It wasn’t necessarily anything that he was doing.”
Ware then played the first 3:06 of overtime before heading back to the bench for the rest of the game.
“I mean, he’s the coach for a reason,” Ware said of Spoelstra’s decision to sit him for most of Sunday’s fourth quarter. “I’m a rookie, so I can’t really say anything about that. His decision is his decision and I’m going to go with it.”
Ware’s upside as an athletic 7-footer with a 7-foot-5 wingspan is obvious. He has the ability to serve as a rim protector on the defensive end and a dynamic roller on offense end, with the potential to also hit three-pointers.
But Ware also understands this is all part of the developmental process, even as he entered Monday’s matchup against the Wizards with starts in 18 straight games and double-digit minutes of playing time in 34 straight games.
“Every game I sit back, I watch it, I try to learn from it and see where I can get better,” said Ware, who was selected by the Heat with the 15th overall pick in the 2024 Draft. “So it’s a developmental process.”
A developmental process that Ware knows will come with ups and downs.
“I’m still learning. I’m a rookie, so I just want to get better at being straight, being tall, trying to affect the game defensively more than I have been a little bit,” Ware said after setting a new career-high in blocks on Sunday. “Try to get back to how I was at the beginning of the season. Just trying to go for everything, affect everything and try to get as many blocks as I can.”
REST OF HEAT INJURY REPORT
Besides Ware, three other Heat players were ruled out about two hours before tipoff against Washington: Andrew Wiggins, Davion Mitchell and Jaime Jaquez Jr.
Jaquez, who has a sprained right ankle, missed Sunday’s loss to the Knicks after turning his ankle early in the second half of Friday’s win over the Pacers.
Wiggins is missing his third game with a sprained ankle.
Mitchell sustained a quadriceps contusion during Sunday’s game against the Knicks. He played 37 minutes in Sunday’s loss.
Along with missing Ware, Heat remains without Josh Christopher (G League), Keshad Johnson (G League), Nikola Jovic (broken right hand), Dru Smith (Achilles surgery) and Isaiah Stevens (G League) against the Wizards. Johnson will join the team for Wednesday’s game in Cleveland.
The Wizards will be without Saddiq Bey (left knee ACL surgery), Malcolm Brogdon (left ankle sprain), Colby Jones (G League), Jaylen Martin (G League) and Jordan Poole (right elbow hyperextension) against the Heat.
A PRO’S PRO
Heat veteran guard Alec Burks’ role has fluctuated throughout this season, entering Monday with double-digit minutes of playing time in 24 games and also 25 DNP-CDs (did not play, coach’s decision) in his first season with the team.
But Burks made his second start of the season on Sunday in place of the injured Wiggins, finishing the Heat’s loss to the Knicks with 12 points on 4-of-5 shooting from three-point range, three rebounds, three assists and one steal in 25 minutes. He finished with a team-best plus/minus of plus-six.
“He’s a pro’s pro,” Spoelstra said of Burks. “He’s done it in so many places. That’s why we went after him. He can play this role. It’s not easy and much of this league, people are talking about, you want to have good vets. But there aren’t a lot of vets that really want to accept these kinds of roles. That’s just the reality. And he is not only able to accept, but he thrives in that role. He’s really important for us.”
This story was originally published March 3, 2025 at 10:50 AM.
