Did the Miami Heat Bench former Illini Kasparas Jakucionis in NBA Summer League?

Despite being listed as "available," Jakucionis was a DNP in the Heat's summer league contest on Monday. Was he benched due to his poor play?

May 14, 2025; Chicago, Il, USA; Kasparas Jakucionis talks to the media during the 2025 NBA Draft Combine at Marriott Marquis Chicago. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-Imagn Images | David Banks-Imagn Images

Under normal circumstances, when a player is listed by his squad as “active” but never steps on the floor, that would be considered a DNP (Did Not Play). In other words, said player was benched. And naturally, when Miami Heat guard Kasparas Jakucionis played zero minutes in Monday’s summer league outing despite being available, it drew some reactions on social media. 

Could you blame summer league coach Eric Glass if he truly benched the former Illini guard? Jakucionis went a combined 1-for-17 from the field along with six assists to 12 turnovers in the California Classic (three games), before finally breaking out for a 24-point, four-rebound, four-assist showing to open up play in Las Vegas.

Then, Jakucionis quickly reverted to his early summer league play with a 2-for-5 (six points) and two assists (three turnovers) performance on Sunday. 

Kasparas Jakucionis vs Golden State:

5 PTS
3 AST (4 TOV)
0-5 FG
0-4 3P
8 PF (‼️) pic.twitter.com/HBpqJ7CE0V

— StatMuse (@statmuse) July 9, 2025

To answer the question: well, yes, you could. Sure, everyone wants to win in the summer league, but that’s not the overarching goal.

The point of mid-July contests is to get reps for the recently drafted rookies and second-year pros – specifically the players that an organization sees playing an important role in their team’s future.

Being the Heat’s top overall pick of the 2025 draft, it’s safe to say Jakucionis falls firmly into that category. 

That said, Jakucionis was not benched for poor play.

Who knows whether it was to prevent injury, not aggravate a slight one that has already been sustained, or any other random, perfectly normal explanation.

And before anyone asks “why wasn’t he listed on the injury report?”, here are two reasonable explanations: 1) The Heat are a Pat Riley-led organization – and therefore sneaky, although summer league antics seem a bit far even for Riley. 2) More likely, it’s the summer league. Few are concerned with the injury report.

Perhaps the Heat have already decided to shut down Jakucionis for the remainder of summer, which is fairly typical for first-round draft picks after a couple of outings.

Up next is Miami's next summer league date on Thursday against the Detroit Pistons.

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