Johnson, Larsson and Ware shine in Heat’s first win of 2025 Las Vegas Summer League
After going 6-0 in Las Vegas on the way to claiming last year’s summer league championship, it took the Miami Heat three games to get its first victory of this year’s Las Vegas Summer League.
The Heat responded to an 0-2 start in Las Vegas with a 100-96 win over the Boston Celtics’ summer squad on Monday at the Pavilion on UNLV’s campus.
The Heat found itself trailing by four points with 1:53 to play, but closed the game on a 13-5 run to rally for the victory.
The Heat trio of center Kel’el Ware, guard Pelle Larsson and forward Keshad Johnson, who were all on Miami’s roster last season and are under contract to be on Miami’s roster this upcoming season, led the way on Monday. They combined to score 67 of Miami’s 100 points in the win.
“Our three main guys, we rode them until the wheels fell off and they helped grind out a victory for us,” Heat summer league head coach Eric Glass said.
After Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra called out Ware’s professionalism and approach in the wake of his slow start to summer league, Ware has turned in two straight quality efforts.
In Sunday’s summer league loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers, Ware recorded 21 points on 8-of-14 shooting from the field, 2-of-3 shooting on threes and 3-of-5 shooting from the foul line, nine rebounds, one steal and three blocks in 27 minutes.
On Monday, Ware again stood out with 21 points on 8-of-15 shooting from the field, 3-of-3 shooting on threes and 2-of-4 shooting from the foul line, 15 rebounds, two assists, two steals and one block in 33 minutes.
“I thought he did even better than last night,” Glass said, complimenting Ware’s performance on Monday. “I thought it was his best game in summer league by far. He sustained throughout the whole game.”
Ware added: “It’s just something that I got to bring every day and like I said, ‘I will.’ ... When I do it, it’s more of a presence that’s being felt out there. I just got to bring it, that’s it. Plain and simple.”
Larsson continued his impressive showing in this year’s summer league, closing the win with 24 points on 7-of-14 shooting from the field, 1-of-3 shooting on threes and 9-of-10 shooting from the foul line, two rebounds and six assists in 33 minutes. Monday marked Larsson’s final summer league game of the year, as he’s now set to join Sweden’s national team to prepare for the EuroBasket 2025 tournament that begins on Aug. 27.
Johnson contributed a solid and efficient stat line of 22 points on 8-of-10 shooting from the field, 2-of-4 shooting on threes and 4-of-4 shooting from the foul line, four rebounds, four assists, two steals and one block in 31 minutes.
While Larsson left Las Vegas, Glass said a decision has not yet been made whether Monday also represents the end of summer league for Johnson and Ware.
Among those still working for an NBA deal who stood out for the Heat’s summer league team on Monday were forward Javonte Cooke and guard Erik Stevenson.
Cooke totaled 11 points on 3-of-7 shooting from three-point range.
Stevenson finished with eight points on 2-of-3 shooting from behind the arc, including the Heat’s final five points of the game to seal the win.
Both Cooke and Stevenson spent last season in the G League.
Monday’s game included some heated moments, as the Heat-Celtics rivalry apparently extends into summer league. Celtics guard Jordan Walsh was ejected after picking up two technicals in a span of seven seconds in the second quarter — one for exchanging words and a bump with Stevenson and another for a two-hand shove on Larsson.
“I don’t know what he was doing,” Larsson said of being shoved by Walsh. “He pushed me. Then I don’t like that he pushed me and then he pushed me again.”
Heat rookie Kasparas Jakucionis, who was selected by Miami with the 20th pick in the first round of last month’s draft, did not play on Monday. It marked the first game that Jakucionis, 19, has missed after playing in each of the Heat’s first five summer league games.
Jakucionis averaged 15 points, three rebounds, three assists and 1.5 steals per appearance while shooting 9 of 17 (52.9 percent) from the field and 5 of 11 (45.5 percent) from three-point range in the Heat’s first two Las Vegas Summer League games before missing Monday’s contest. He totaled just 12 points on 1-of-15 (6.7%) from the field, 0-of-11 shooting from three-point range and 10-of-12 shooting from the foul line in his first three summer league games at the California Classic.
Among the Heat contingent in attendance for Monday’s game in Las Vegas were Spoelstra, assistant coaches Chris Quinn, Malik Allen and Caron Butler, executives Adam Simon and Udonis Haslem, and newly acquired guard Norman Powell.
The Heat (1-2 in Las Vegas) now enters a two-day break before playing its fourth of five summer league games in Las Vegas on Thursday against the Detroit Pistons’ summer squad. The Heat’s fifth and final game of summer league will come on either Friday, Saturday or Sunday, with the opponent, date and start time for that contest to be announced later this week.
This story was originally published July 14, 2025 at 10:37 PM.
