MIAMI — Based on the composition of the Miami Heat’s roster, the initial thought was the 260-pound player would line up on most nights at power forward, or at least 250-pound big man or the 240-pound prospect.

Instead, more times than not, it has been the 210-pound option.

As in Andrew Wiggins, 30-year-old career small forward.

“I just go out there and bang and play my heart out,” said Wiggins, listed by the Heat at 6 feet 7, 210 pounds.

With coach Erik Spoelstra stressing the need to maximize his roster, which lately has meant working with a starting lineup that includes guards Davion Mitchell, Norman Powell and Tyler Herro, it has been Wiggins who has been asked to sacrifice mass-ively, playing up in role at power forward, with 260-pound Bam Adebayo cast at center and 250-pound Kel’el Ware utilized in reserved.

In the season opener, it was 240-pound Nikola Jovic who drew the assignment at power forward. Amid a largely uneven ride, Jovic has not started again.

The Heat tally this season has been 14 starts for Wiggins at power forward (8-6), 10 for Adebayo (6-4) and one for Jovic (0-1).

For Wiggins, he has been here before, according to Basketball Reference, having played a career-high 51% of his minutes at center with the Golden State Warriors in 2020-21 and 34% of his minutes at center with the Warriors in 2023-24, his last full season with Golden State.

Last season, though, after his midseason trade to the Heat, Wiggins was listed as playing only 5% of his minutes at power forward, as Spoelstra got to the lineup of Adebayo playing alongside Ware, mixed in with ample power usage of Jovic, something that largely has been the exception this season.

Wiggins said he is taking it all in stride.

“It hasn’t been weighing on me at all. I’ve been feeling pretty comfortable,” he said, with the Heat returning from their five-day break for a Monday night game against the Toronto Raptors at Kaseya Center, before heading out on a three-game trip. “It was more so newer at the beginning of the year.

“But, like I said, I feel comfortable now and I feel like I’m doing a solid job being the power forward. I mean, it has its advantages and disadvantages.”

To put Wiggins’ upsized role into perspective, consider that the Heat list Wiggins and 6-foot point guard Davion Mitchell at the same weight.

The last time out for Wiggins, it meant taking the defensive challenge against Orlando Magic power forward Paolo Banchero, who is listed as 250 pounds, with Wiggins holding his own, Banchero scoring 18, Wiggins 19, albeit in a 117-108 loss.

“He’s got some size on me,” Wiggins said. “But he’s got size, and I’ve got quickness. So you see what the advantages and disadvantages are. I’d like to think I’m stronger than your average person. So I go up there and I just bang with the big dogs and play my heart out.”

With more consistency from Ware, the onus likely would be lesser on Wiggins to play up size. Ditto if Jovic had not fallen so far so quickly.

When it comes to Jovic, Spoelstra said, “He just has to stay with it. And each day is an opportunity for him to get better and to make an impression. That’s good that he has practice days, to show us. But he’s been working behind the scenes and he’ll get his opportunity again.”

Still, for weeks it has been the way of Wiggins when it has come to the power rotation, that for a player who during his first five seasons averaged no more than 3% of his time in a power role.

To Wiggins, it merely is a matter of remaining up to the challenge, even if perhaps not a challenge of choice.

“I’ve been feeling pretty good lately,” he said. “I’ve been feeling pretty good. We practice hard. We play hard. But we get a lot of rest. They do a good job here of all the treatment and stuff, so I’ve been feeling pretty good.”

All as the heavy lifting continues.

“I’ve probably played the four more the first 25 games here than anywhere else,” he said, “for sure.”