MIAMI — Twice Saturday, once before the Miami Heat’s sobering loss to the Chicago Bulls and once after, Kel’el Ware spoke by his locker at Kaseya Center about the uncertainty of his role with the Heat going forward.

Before the game, it was a conversation of what might happen by Thursday’s 3 p.m. NBA trading deadline, with the 7-footer again caught in transaction speculation.

After the game, the words were about being limited to a single 3:11 stint in Saturday’s loss, never summoned from the bench in the second half by coach Erik Spoelstra.

Each time the second-year 7-footer spoke diplomatically, as he often has amid these moments of confusion.

But the confusion only has increased.

When it comes to the trade market, amid speculation of standing as somewhat of a lure to a Heat bid for Milwaukee Bucks All-Star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo. Ware brushed it aside as part of being a pro.

“I mean, of course, I’ve seen it,” Ware said in his typical quiet manner. “My people have told me. But at the end of the day, if they make that decision, they make that decision And If not, then I’m just going to continue to go out here and play, regardless.”

Except that’s the rub, on one hand potentially being offered up as a valued component toward something bigger, on the other receiving 3:11 of playing time on Saturday.

In the middle is Spoelstra, who routinely now is being asked to answer for the increasing amount of games with short minutes for the No. 15 pick in the 2024 NBA draft out of Indiana.

Saturday, Spoelstra’s emphasis was on the Bulls playing fast and playing small.

“Look, I know, like every press conference ends up becoming about him, and I really don’t want it to be that,” he said of Ware, routinely now asked about such meager minutes for the 21-year-old. “And I’ll go quickly on it, because this is not an indictment on Kel’el. This game was so fast. They were playing small forwards at center. The advantage was the speed and the quickness and all that, in my opinion. It was just not a typical game.”

Typically, with rotation components — if that is what Ware is considered by the Heat –—coaches will attempt to find a way to craft requisite minutes, no matter the opposing playing style. But throughout this season, the lineups that have paired Ware with starting center Bam Adebayo consistently have graded out at a significant net negative.

“I mean, there’ll be better opportunities. And we have to find a way to make it work,” Spoelstra said. “I have two talented young bigs and I have to find a way to make some of the lineups with Kel’el a positive.

“And that’s not on him. Just some of the lineups that we’ve gone to have not been successful, and we don’t have a lot of practice time. He’s been diligent working behind the scenes. He’ll be ready and we’ll just see what happens as we move forward.”

Ware was ready Saturday.

But his name only was called once.

Briefly.

So, for now, Ware finds himself navigating both the limited minutes and limited opportunities.

“I mean, I can’t control it,” he said by his locker after Saturday’s game. “I mean, so really, it is what it is. Whatever he feels like that he sees or feels like playing me, I mean, like I said, it is what it is, control what you can control. And I’m just trying to go out there and do whatever I can in whatever time I get.”

Ware sighed as he offered that comment.

He also said once Nikola Jovic got the call to replace Adebayo during Adebayo’s second break that he knew his brief night was over.

“I kind of knew the night was done once Niko went in for Bam,” he said.

So now, less playing time, more trade rumors.

“I don’t really think it’s even much of a distraction, for real,” he said of the trade conjecture. “Because, like I said, it’s not even something that you can control.  I mean, so I guess you could say that it goes along the lines of control, you know, the controllable. I mean, if it happens, it happens.

“I mean, wherever I’m at, I’m going to try to go play my best basketball.”

The irony is the trade conjecture means there are factions at play that see true value, worthy value, tradeable value, even as the minutes shrink in Ware’s current surroundings.

In that regard, it almost is as if the affirmation is coming from beyond the Heat sector of the personnel equation.

“I mean I would say, yeah,” he said of the being touted as a valued potential trade component. “I mean, that just means that I bring value and I bring a skill set. So, yeah, I would say, yeah.”