The One Area of Focus For Kel'el Ware in his Sophomore Season

Kel'el Ware not only grabbed the attention of many locally when he jumped onto the scene in his rookie season, but he also started turning some heads nationally pretty quickly.

Highlight finishes off lob passes, going toe to toe against the San Antonio Spurs' young star Victor Wembanyama, and even all the flashes of head turning blocks or three balls.

He finished the year just under 10 points a game, while grabbing 7.4 rebounds and swatting away 1.1 blocks a night. The bare stats were there, the respect for his ability on both ends based on scouting reports were clear, and his confidence never seemed to be shaken.

His name was also a hot topic back in July throughout Las Vegas Summer League, after Erik Spoelstra called him out to improve his levels of professionalism following his passive play early in the Summer. Yet he did quickly respond to his coach's call-out, averaging17.3 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 2.3 blocks in Vegas.

Kel’el Ware’s 21 point and 15 board night:

- No hesitation threes

- Better position for catches inside

- Active on boards and contained defensively

- Lobs often available on slips

Another strong bounce back outing

pic.twitter.com/8JT30EiSWe
— Brady Hawk (@BradyHawk305) July 15, 2025

Yet even after all of the rookie year positives and highlights, Coach Spoelstra is right. That is in the past, and now it's all eyes on his "improvements" heading into his second NBA season.

So what exactly is the number one thing he needs to improve?

Some may argue it's the three point shooting, since it began to tail off later in the season (finishing at 31% on 1.7 attempts), plus it's necessary if he's logging long minute totals next to Bam Adebayo. But I don't believe it's something you can point to in a box score that he needs most.

It's consistency.

Consistency due to the fact we saw flashes of him doing many different things on the basketball court at an extremely high level at times. Whether it was getting after it on defense to look like an elite rim protector or hard dive cuts to the basket following a good screen, he proved he's capable of checking multiple boxes.

Yet the next step is doing things all of those things mentioned on a consistent basis. Game to game performances don't see major drop-offs, quarter to quarter shifts contain the same amount of energy, or even play to play consistency on what his role is this season.

Anybody can see when watching Ware that he's ultra talented out there on the floor, but many wonder why his minutes drop or why he doesn't close games on certain nights when Erik Spoelstra leans away from him.

Finding a consistent balance of what you can expect on a game to game basis is the thing that'll skyrocket his coach's trust in him. And I do believe we will see that part of his game take a jump this year.