Just weeks after Miami gave the ultimate public vote of confidence in Kel’el Ware, head coach Erik Spoelstra voiced some criticism.
The 7-foot former IU basketball player and 2024 first round NBA Draft pick has been inconsistent during summer league play after a strong finish to his rookie campaign.
His head coach aired the club’s grievances.
“A big part of this is he has to really embrace and improve his professionalism, his consistency, his approach every single day,” Spoelstra told the assembled media. “He has to get better with that. It’s learning how to become a pro. I understand that he was 20 last year and he’s 21. But we have bigger expectations. It’s not your normal growth and growing pains of a young player learning how to become a pro. But that’s what this summer is about. Learning how to become a pro, learning how to be consistent every single day.
“The talent is there. The professionalism and consistency has to improve, and it is. Our standards are not going to change and our expectations and how fast we want that to improve for him are not going to change. But he has to get better at it, he has to take ownership of it.”
Coming off an encouraging rookie season, Ware is averaging 12.0 points per game through three Summer League starts. He has gone 13-for-33 (39.4 percent) from the field through those three games, and 1-for-10 (10 percent) from beyond the arc.
Last month that the Heat’s unwillingness to trade Ware was part of the reason the team missed out on acquiring Kevin Durant before the Phoenix Suns traded the star to the Houston Rockets.
Miami protected Ware because of the promise he showed late in the 2024-25 season.
After being moved into a full-time starting role during his final 38 regular season appearances, Ware averaged 10.7 points, 9.7 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 1.2 blocks per game while shooting 54.4% from the field and 27.6% on threes.
Ware ended the season as one of the league’s best rookies, finishing just one spot away from making the All-Rookie First Team as the top vote-getter on the second team.
But the Heat went out of their way to keep Ware as a key part of their future, and they want more.
