Heat pushing for more from Kel’el Ware as he battles for starting job: ‘He’ll have to earn it’
Miami Heat coaches and players have high expectations for center Kel’el Ware. So they hold Ware to a high standard.
That led to Heat coach Erik Spoelstra challenging Ware to “improve his professionalism, his consistency, his approach every single day” after his underwhelming start to summer league in July.
Heat captain Bam Adebayo also makes sure to stay on top of Ware, continuing to push for more from the ultra-athletic and skilled 21-year-old 7-footer.
“I’m hard on Kel’el,” Adebayo said, with the Heat holding its second training camp practice at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton on Wednesday. “He probably looks at me like I’m crazy sometimes. Y’all don’t see it, but yelling and screaming in the gym and being somebody who wants more from him because he has so much potential.”
It’s that potential that makes Ware one of the most intriguing players on the Heat’s roster, with the type of upside that could help swing Miami’s season. It’s that potential that had the Heat making Ware off-limits in trade discussions with the Phoenix Suns for 15-time All-Star forward Kevin Durant this past offseason.
Ware created those high expectations and standards with a standout rookie campaign, finishing last season as the Heat’s starting center and establishing himself as one of the league’s top rookies on the way to earning a spot on the NBA All-Rookie Second Team.
“Despite what people think my tenor is with him or whatever, I really enjoy coaching Kel’el,” Spoelstra said. “He’s a young player, and he’s learning our standards and learning the head coach’s standards of approaching every single day to strive for excellence and not accept anything less than that. And then you stack a bunch of days up like that, then eventually as a young player you start to learn how, oh, that impacts winning.
“Is he there yet? No. Does he show signs of that? Yes. Because he does really care. He cares about it. He’s learning it, and that’s OK for a young player.”
But Spoelstra stopped short of promising a starting role for Ware, even though Ware spent the final three months of last season as Adebayo’s partner in the Heat’s starting frontcourt.
After beginning the season out of the Heat’s rotation, Ware started 33 games alongside Adebayo last regular season, and the Heat posted a 14-19 record in those games with that double-big frontcourt. The Heat outscored opponents by 4.6 points per 100 possessions in the 541 minutes that Adebayo and Ware played together last regular season, as Miami’s defense produced impressive results, but its offense struggled with this duo on the court.
Following his move into the Heat’s starting lineup, Ware averaged 10.7 points, 9.7 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 1.2 blocks per game while shooting 54.4% from the field and 21 of 76 (27.6%) on threes during his final 38 regular-season appearances last season. That midseason push was enough for Ware to end the season as one of the league’s best rookies, finishing just one spot from making the All-Rookie First Team.
But Ware’s first NBA playoff experience was rough. While the Heat was being swept out of the first round by the Cleveland Cavaliers last season, Ware produced a total of just 19 pounds, 19 rebounds and two blocks in 73 minutes while the Adebayo-Ware frontcourt was outscored by 6.3 points per 100 possessions in 41 minutes together during the four-game series.
To begin this season as a Heat starter, Ware will have to earn that spot with a strong training camp and preseason. The other top candidate to begin this season starting alongside Adebayo in Miami’s frontcourt is 22-year-old forward Nikola Jovic, who started the first eight games last regular season before being pulled from the starting group.
“Kel’el and Bam had some good moments together,” Spoelstra said. “In the playoffs, it wasn’t good. That’s OK, too. We’re going to work on that. [Ware] is trending in a way that he’s positioning himself for an important role and then he’ll have to prove it. He’ll have to earn it just like everybody else.”
Ware downplayed the importance of opening the season as a Heat starer when asked Tuesday what he believes his role should be this season.
“I mean, I’m not the coach,” said Ware, who was taken by the Heat with the 15th overall pick in last year’s draft. “So I can’t pick and choose what he chooses as the role for me to play. But whatever that role is, I’m going to play it.”
How important is starting to Ware?
“To be honest, I just want to win,” Ware said.
To approach or even reach its ceiling and exceed outside expectations this season, the Heat knows it needs Ware to continue to develop and grow. So Adebayo, Spoelstra and others within the organization will continue to hold Ware to a high standard.
“I feel like he accepts the challenge from Spo head on,” Adebayo said of Ware. “He doesn’t run from it, he doesn’t shy away. And that’s what we want. We want him to take challenges head on. If he doesn’t get it, it’s one of those things that the next day he’s right back at it. The next day, he’s trying to get back at it. The next day, he’s trying to beat that challenge.”
This story was originally published October 1, 2025 at 9:03 AM.
