Kel'el Ware provides silver lining during controversial night for Miami Heat

It was a rough night for all of Heat Nation, amid another tough loss and an official Jimmy Butler trade request. The Miami Heat star broke the internet with controversial postgame press conference comments, stating that he has lost his joy from playing basketball. 

When asked if he can get that happiness back on the court for the Heat, he replied, “probably not”. Not long after, Shams Charania reported Butler has indicated to the organization that he is “open to playing anywhere other than Miami.” 

Jimmy Butler's trade request overshadowed a great night for Heat rookie Kel'el Ware.

With all this being said, when one door closes, another one opens. And the team may still have a long term building block in Kel’el Ware, who put up a career outing in the Indiana Pacers 128-115 over Miami on Thursday night.

Indiana’s up-tempo pace stumped the Heat early, and they weren’t able to recover. Indiana was led by Tyrese Haliburton’s 33 points and 15 assists, along with strong showings from Myles Turner and Pascal Siakam. At one point, the Pacers blew the game open to a 28-point lead until Ware sparked a valiant fourth-quarter effort. 

Kel’el Ware had a career-high 25 points, 16 in the fourth quarter, on 9 of 11 shooting in 21 minutes off the bench. 

The talented 7-foot rookie led the Heat to a 32-21 advantage in the final period of the game, and even cut the deficit down to 12 points. His rim pressure and lengthy presence have always been encouraging in his brief stints, but it was the offensive package that turned heads. 

Ware’s shooting efficiency was good for an elite 82% overall on 11 attempts. However, the floor spreading abilities posed as the biggest highlight of his impressive outing. He stepped up to knock down 3 of his 4 attempts from 3-point range.

For a league that has only grown with long range shooting abilities from every position, it is crucial that Ware has shown a capability to do so. He is currently stuck behind three-time All-Star Bam Adebayo in the Heat’s depth chart, although he could be shooting his way into earning a role alongside him. 

Adebayo’s 3-point efficiency has dropped from a career-high 36% last season to 28% during this 2024-25 campaign. If Ware were to eventually earn a bigger role with minutes next to Adebayo in the frontcourt, he needs to be able to consistently add that outside shooting threat. Luckily, his performance against the Pacers showed a lot of optimism in that regard. 

That potential duo has the makings of being ultra-versatile on both ends of the court. And if Ware continues to let it fly at this clip, they could eventually make a pairing come to fruition. The Heat haven’t had a legitimate and efficent floor spacer with size and length next to Adebayo arguably since the Kelly Olynyk era during the 2019-2021 seasons. 

Ware’s ceiling as a 20 year-old development piece has always been intriguing. Many Heat fans have wanted the talented big man to be thrown into the fire a long time ago. Now he is finally getting real opportunities with impactful minutes and he hasn’t disappointed.

If Ware can spread the floor like this, a duo with himself and Adebayo down the line seems too special to not try.