NBA GMs consider Heat rookie one who got away

Brady Hawk | Oct 9, 2025

Oct 8, 2025; Miami, Florida, USA; San Antonio Spurs forward David Jones Garcia (25) threads a pass to center Bismack Biyombo (18) as Miami Heat guard Kasparas Jakucionis (25) and center Kel'El Ware (7) defend during the second half at Kaseya Center. Mandatory Credit: Jim Rassol-Imagn Images / Jim Rassol-Imagn Images

The Miami Heat's most recent first round pick, Kasparas Jakucionis, had a stellar preseason debut on Wednesday night against the San Antonio Spurs.

Showcased elite vision as a play-maker, defensive activity, the ability to generate paint touches, and flashes of some scoring upside.

Time to breakdown the debut of the rookie Kasparas Jakucionis

We’re going play by play of every assist, bucket, and defensive stop so everybody lock in

Quick thread:

— Brady Hawk (@BradyHawk305) October 9, 2025

While the short term conversations are about how much this rookie will play in his first season with the Miami Heat, the coaching staff and organization always seem to be thinking bigger. Simply, evaluating the long term plan.

It isn't just the Heat's organization, though, that saw the value in Jakucionis at pick 20 back in the 2025 NBA draft. In the latest NBA general manager survey, a question was posed on the most recent draft: Which rookie was the biggest steal at where he was selected in the draft?

The number one answer to that polled question was indeed the Heat's Jakucionis, grabbing 17% of the votes.

It's not ridiculous to call him the steal of the draft for a few reasons. Number one, predicting that somebody the Heat took late in the first round will end up working out is not a hot take. Just looking at their track record of Nikola Jovic at pick 27, Kel'el Ware at pick 15, Bam Adebayo at pick 14, or Tyler Herro at pick 13.

Without the common top 10 draft picks, the Heat's scouting department has found top ten talent no matter where they have selected.

The second reason this prediction makes sense is due to Jakucionis dropping somewhat in the draft. When the Heat were preparing to pick 20th in the draft, they legitimately didn't expect him to still be sitting there. He was projected much higher than 20 in the pre-draft process, so in terms of pure value, there's no doubt that Jakucionis is a steal.

We will see if his next few reps come as a rotation player off the bench as the Heat lean into this young rotation, or if it consists of getting reps in Sioux Falls with their G-League affiliate. Either way, there's high hopes for this 19 year old to be the steal of the draft.

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