Ranking the Heat's top 5 young players

The Miami Heat season ended in disappointment and the fans are saying they keep running it back. Team President Pat Riley last year famously fumbled the Liberty commercial and birthed the term “Ribbit,” which means run it back. The thing is Miami has changed the team a lot in the past few years, mostly through the NBA draft. Let’s rank the young players in terms of growth and potential.

🚨 NEW ⁦@5OTF_⁩ 🚨 https://t.co/YM39i7vcbm
— Greg Sylvander (@GregSylvander) May 10, 2025

#1 Jaime Jaquez Jr.

6’6 | 225 lbs | 25 yrs old | 4th Year
PPG 15.4
REB 5.0
AST 4.7
FG 50%
3PT 31%

Jaime was arguably the Heat’s third most important player on the team when it comes to winning. He was the second-best ball handler to Davion Mitchell. His stats back it up that he did a little of everything for Miami. He finished the season with a +.7 offensive rating, which indicates that when he was on the floor the Heat were better. This was important because when the starters came off the floor there was no drop-off in pace and production.

#2 Kel'el Ware

7’0 | 230 lbs | 22 yrs old | 3rd Year
PPG 11.1
REB 9.0
AST .7
BLK 1.1
FG 53%
3PT 39.5%

Ware has the highest ceiling out of all the young players on the team. He is a consistent lob threat in the half court and on the fast break. He can be dominant on the glass when he decides to be. He is an intimidating presence on the low block. He has excellent touch around the rim. The evolution of his three-point shooting has been his biggest area of growth in year two. His biggest opportunity to improve, which will take him from good to great, is consistency in effort and defensive recognition in pick and rolls. When Ware is on the floor, the opponents’ assist percentage rises by 2.5%, as well as the team’s offensive rebounding rising 4.7%. The team’s offensive rating is -3.0 with Ware on the floor, while the opponents’ offensive rating rises 3.2%.

#3 Pelle Larsson

6’5 | 215 lbs | 25 yrs old | 3rd Year
PPG 11.4
REB 3.5
AST 3.45
BLK .2
FG 49.6%
3PT 32.3%

Pelle has carved out a starting role in future rotations. He is a solid glue guy that keeps breaking through his ceiling. He’s built an NBA body. He doesn’t beat his man off the bounce much, but uses his strength to power through them. He is an excellent cutter, defender, and hustle guy. He needs to keep working on the three ball to take his game to the next level.

The team’s offensive rating rises with Pelle on the floor by 2.5%.

#4 Kasparas Jakučionis

Mar 12, 2026; Miami, Florida, USA; Miami Heat guard Kasparas Jakucionis (25) reacts against the Milwaukee Bucks during the third quarter at Kaseya Center. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images | Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

6’5 | 200 lbs | 19 yrs old | 2nd Year
PPG 6.2
REB 2.6
AST 2.6
TOV .9
FG 42.9%
3PT 42.3%

Kasparas has the second-highest ceiling out of the young guys. He earned his playing time in his first year because of his dogged determination defensively. He worked early in the season on his footwork going into his jump shot while moving his guide hand a little higher on the ball to stabilize his shot. His ball handling got better as the year went on and he had flashes of the great passing ability he showed in college. He needs to work on his ball handling even more and playing off two feet in the paint to take his game to the next level.

The team was better with Kas on the floor. The team improved in offensive rebound percentage by 3.3%, defensive rebound percentage by 2.1%, assist percentage by 1.6%, steal percentage by 1.6%, and offensive rating by 2.8%.

#5 Nikola Jović

6’10 | 205 lbs | 22 yrs old | 4th Year
PPG 7.3
REB 3.3
AST 2.2
TOV 1.4
FG 36.6%
3PT 26.9%

Jovic got his contract extension and proceeded to have a season to forget. He lost confidence in himself and the coaching staff. His best attribute is his defensive ability. It used to be a weakness, but now he is serviceable. The issue is on offense. He isn’t a great ball handler, he isn’t strong enough to bang down low, he isn’t a good shooter, and isn’t a good enough facilitator to run offense through. He also doesn’t help on the glass or protect the rim. The advanced metrics don’t help much either. When Jovic is on the floor the team sinks in offensive rebound percentage by -2.5%, defensive rebound percentage by -2.9%, offensive rating by -5.8, and they turn the ball over more at +2.2%.

This is a make-or-break season coming up for Niko.

Conclusion

Nikola Jovic aside, the Miami Heat are developing a nice crop of young assets. They have two with high ceilings in Ware and Jakučionis and a solid rotation piece in Larsson. This gives Miami options in the offseason: keep building through the draft or flip these promising assets for something more. What would you like them to do? Message me on social media.

You can follow me on X @DigitalAdel and listen to my podcast, DigitalAdelHoops on Youtube

Add us as a preferred source on Google