With much concern heading into the 2025 NBA Draft, the Miami Heat made the smart play by sticking at No. 20 and were rewarded with arguably the biggest steal of the first round. The Heat selected Kasparas Jakucionis, a lottery talent who fell to the Heat late in the first round.
Jakucionis gives the team a potential long-term answer at the lead guard position and will take significant pressure off of Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo if he can develop quickly. More importantly, this pick echoes where this franchise is headed next.
The Heat must embrace the youth movement
After staying put and making a selection with the No. 20 pick, it's clear what must happen next for the Heat. They must continue to embrace this pivot for the franchise. While patience hasn't necessarily been one of the strengths of the Heat's franchise over the years, it's certainly a virtue that they must adopt.
If there's anything we can gain from the Heat's actions on draft night, it's the fact that it appears Riley is finally realizing that the team isn't close to contending. Instead of continuing to try and make nonsensical win-now moves, the Heat finally appear to be leaning into the idea of a "gap year." It's probably not the best-case scenario for the fan base, but it's one path that will give the Heat the best chance to turn their situation around quickly.
Let's also not overlook the fact that the Heat has another intriguing young talent that they could embrace and develop. Even if Miami is going to take a small step back in hopes of taking a few steps forward next offseason, a big part of the 2025-26 season will revolve around development.
While the Heat won't be expected to win many games this upcoming season, short of making a huge unexpected blockbuster move in the next couple of weeks, they can be optimistic about the prospects of their young core. Jakucionis can now be added to the promising young collection of Jaime Jaquez Jr., Kel'el Ware, Nikola Jovic, and Pelle Larsson.