Growing pains continue for Heat’s Kel’el Ware: ‘We’re not going to give up on him’
The good news for Miami Heat center Kel’el Ware is he’s an NBA starter in his second NBA season. The bad news is that means Ware’s growing pains and mistakes as a 21-year-old player still learning and developing are almost impossible to miss.
Ware learned another hard lesson during Sunday night’s 130-120 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers at Crypto.com Arena that dropped the Heat to 0-2 on this four-game trip, as he was benched for a chunk of the game after a rough start.
With the Lakers relentlessly attacking and testing Ware’s pick-and-roll defense, the Heat found itself down 23-13 by the time Ware was subbed out of the game with 6:07 left in the first quarter. Lakers fill-in starting center Jaxson Hayes exploded for nine points (one basket coming off a put-back tip-in) while Ware was on the court to begin the game.
After playing the first 5:53 of the first quarter, Ware was benched for the rest of the first half.
“We were just trying to get a handle on it,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said, downplaying his decision to bench Ware for much of Sunday’s game. “It’s very nuanced. When you have two dynamic pick-and-roll players [Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves] like they had.”
Ware even began the second half on the Heat’s bench, as forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. started the third quarter in his place.
“I wouldn’t say it’s frustrating,” Ware said before the Heat closed its two-game set in Los Angeles and played its third of four games during this trip on Monday night against the Clippers at Intuit Dome. “I feel like you got to trust the coach and the decisions that he comes up with. And then you got to go from there and be ready when your name is called.”
Ware waited until there was 1:09 left in Sunday’s third quarter before Spoelstra called on him to re-enter the game for his first playing time since he was subbed out midway through the first quarter. His second and final stint of the game was better than his first, as he totaled two points, three rebounds and one block during his six-minute stint in the second half.
“I thought he bounced back in the third quarter and gave us some quality minutes,” Spoelstra said.
But Ware still closed Sunday’s defeat with a negative plus/minus of minus-6, recording seven points, four rebounds and one block in 11:30 of playing time.
Entering Monday’s matchup against the Clippers, the Heat has been outscored by 10 points per 100 possessions with Ware on the court this season, which is the worst individual net rating among Miami’s rotation players this season.
“I’m going to him as a brother. I’m not going to him as no captain, I’m a mentor,” Heat veteran Bam Adebayo said of balancing his role as team captain and teammate when helping Ware behind the scenes. “So it’s growing pains when it comes to this NBA thing. You get involved and you blink, and it’s, for me, like nine years in. And you’re going to have some growing pains along the way. It’s just, how are you going to grow from those lessons? This is a lesson for him.”
Ware has endured a lot of lessons in recent months.
It wasn’t too long ago that Spoelstra publicly challenged Ware to be better this preseason just a few months after calling for him to “improve his professionalism, his consistency, his approach every single day” following his underwhelming start to summer league in July.
“I feel like he’s one of those guys who’s very even keeled,” Adebayo said when asked Sunday where Ware’s confidence is at. “So it’s hard to judge if he’s down or not, which I truly respect. Because it’s good to not know, because also you’ve got to add the professionalism to our league. But just talking to him, I don’t feel like he’s discouraged. It’s just lessons he’s got to learn.”
Adebayo has been in Ware’s shoes before as a young center trying to earn Spoelstra’s trust. The fastest way to do it is by providing quality defense, and that’s one area Ware has yet to find consistency in.
Ware’s pick-and-roll defense remains a work in progress, and opposing teams continue to test that area of his game. That’s one of the reasons the Heat entered Monday allowing 19 more points with Ware playing through the first two weeks of the season compared to when he hasn’t been on the court.
“It’s only my second year,” Ware said when asked where he stands on the defensive end after starting in five straight games leading into Monday’s matchup against the Clippers. “So it’s still a learning process with that, and just getting it down.”
The Heat is willing to remain patient with Ware, in part because his potential is tantalizing as an athletic 7-footer with a 7-foot-5 wingspan who also has the ability to knock down threes. Ware was even good enough last season to earn a spot on the NBA All-Rookie Second Team after being taken by the Heat with the 15th overall pick in last year’s draft.
“We’re not going to give up on him,” Adebayo said. “We know how great he can be. He moves the needle for this team.”
This story was originally published November 3, 2025 at 12:04 PM.
