Miami was unable to secure their first preseason win versus the Spurs, dropping to 0-3, despite a strong showing from Kel’el Ware.
(Photo via Miami Heat/X)
The Miami Heat have yet to earn their first preseason win, and that notion continued Wednesday night when the Heat hosted Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs.
The core starters in Bam Adebayo, Norman Powell, Andrew Wiggins and Nikola Jovic played just a combined 22.5 minutes. However, the Heat bench still had an opportunity to win this game.
New first-round draft pick Kasparas Jakucionis made his debut off the bench and looked impactful, finishing with 8 points and 10 assists. His playmaking potential was on full display, and even showed glimpses of providing strong point of attack defense. He was active.
Jaime Jaquez Jr., who was delegated to a second unit role after Dru Smith got the starting nod, also looked impressive scoring the ball. Not to mention a high flying poster dunk over Wembanyama early in the game.
Jaime Jaquez Jr. in Wednesday’s preseason contest against San Antonio:
🔥19 PTS
🔥6-8 FG
Highlighted by this MONSTROUS slam 💥⬇️
— Hot Hot Hoops (@hothothoops) October 9, 2025
Norman Powell recovered after a slow start offensively, finishing with 18 points for the second consecutive outing. The rest of the starters struggled. Adebayo and Wiggins shot just 3 of 10 from the field each, and Jovic didn’t have much of an impact either.
But the key piece that has been in competition with Jovic for a starting role in Kel’el Ware showed out.
Ware dominated the stat sheet, leading Miami’s bench unit with a monster 29 points and 12 rebounds double-double against Wembanyama. He shot an efficient 12 of 19 from the field (63%) and knocked down three shots from deep— along with adding one block and one steal.
Coach Erik Spoelstra has made it clear that he’s looking for an impact that goes deeper than just the numbers from Ware. In that regard, the talented 7-foot was also an encouraging +10 in his minutes on the floor. Spoelstra had acknowledged postgame that he thought Ware was “playing with force.”
These exhibition games give a good opportunity in experimenting with lineups and rotations that work. The first 10-deep looked solid in this game against San Antonio, and brought Miami out to an early lead.
So far, the preseason trend with these losses has looked like the two-way youngsters struggling to close out games.
Although it’s encouraging to see Ware and Jakucionis still standout.
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