Miami Heat big man Kel’el Ware put together perhaps the best three-game stretch of his NBA career earlier this month. He scored 22-plus points and pulled down 12-plus rebounds in a trio of contests against the Brooklyn Nets, Boston Celtics and New York Knicks. That phenomenal run culminated in a 28-point, 19-rebound performance against the Knicks on Dec. 21.
In the wake of that impressive stretch from him, Five Reasons Sports’ Greg Sylvander reported that Ware’s value is increasing “tremendously” around the league.
“There are some heads in that building that are major advocates of continuing to play Kel’el Ware as much as he can handle,” Sylvander wrote via Discord.
“For more reasons than just his stellar play.
“His value around the league is increasing tremendously. Rightfully so.”
It’s worth noting that Sylvander’s report came before Miami’s contest against the Toronto Raptors this week, a game in which Ware’s streak of standout performances came to a halt. The 21-year-old mustered just five points on 2-of-8 shooting in a loss. However, he then bounced back with 16 points and 13 boards in a win against the Atlanta Hawks.
Ware, a second-year player, has come into his own at the NBA level this season, as he’s posting career-highs across the board. Across 31 games played (21 starts) thus far in the 2025-26 season, he’s averaging 12.4 points (on 55.6 percent shooting from the field and 47.6 percent shooting from deep) coupled with 10.7 rebounds and 1.3 blocked shots per contest.
The former No. 15 overall pick has been a nightly double-double threat after he showed a whole lot of promise as a rookie last season. He spent some of the early part of his maiden pro season warming the bench but later worked himself into head coach Erik Spoelstra’s rotation and finished sixth in the league’s Rookie of the Year voting.
It’s safe to claim that the Heat have one of the more promising young centers in the league today on their hands in Ware, and their decision not to include him in a trade package for star Kevin Durant in the offseason has aged pretty well. Considering the level he’s played at this season at just 21 years of age, it seems like the sky is the limit for him.