As the Miami Heat scramble to find an internal spark for their 3-6 start to the season, there may only be one player on the roster who could provide it. Pelle Larsson.
If Larsson is indeed going to have that breakout season, now would be a perfect time for it to finally come together. Considering the Heat's struggles to find consistent contributors opposite Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bam Adebayo, Larsson emerging could very well help give this team the push in the right direction that they need.
And there have been small signs that Larsson could be close.
Pelle Larsson deserves a shot to prove himself in the starting lineup
Through the first nine games of the season, Larsson is shooting a career-high 40 percent from the 3-point range and 90 percent from the free-throw line. Also a career-best four assists per game. Larsson is still only averaging 11 points per contest, but the true test of whether he's going to take a big step in his game or not could come soon.
With the Heat's struggles, Larsson could get the nod to be inserted into the starting lineup, with Erik Spoelstra searching for an internal spark.
This may not be a move that solves all of the Heat's problems, but it could be the one that finally gives this starting lineup a shot and doesn't put the Heat behind the 8-ball every game. So far this season, the Heat have had one of the worst starting lineups in the league.
Miami's starging 5 of Davion Mitchell, Klay Thompson, Andrew Wiggins, Giannis, and Bam have a net rating of -8.9 in 103 minutes played together. Swap Larsson into that group in place of Wiggins, and that lineup has a +22.5.
Albeit, it's an extremely small sample size of 26 minutes together. At this point, though, Spoelstra may not have any other option.
With the way Wiggins has looked so far this season, Larsson may be the only player on the roster who could give this team a season-saving jolt.
Historically, Spoelstra has been patient in trusting his veterans to figure it out. However, especially with the added expectations around Giannis, I'm not so sure that the Heat have the same luxury. The Heat need results now, and Spoelstra needs to find a spark to help get this season back on track before it completely spirals out of control.
Spoelstra and the Heat may have wanted to hold out on pulling the Larsson lever this early in the season. Unfortunately, there may not be any other alternatives to finding the spark that this team truly needs.
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