Miami Heat lock up pair of promising young players through 2026

The Miami Heat may have struck gold with their recent draft picks over the years of Nikola Jovic and Jaime Jaquez Jr. Both youngsters were snagged outside of the lottery with the 27th and 18th overall picks, respectively. Even more impressively, the Heat were able to pull this off in back-to-back drafts in 2022 and 2023. 

As much as Pat Riley and the team’s front office may take heat (literally and figuratively) for the lack of free agent moves, the one thing they have hit on during this build is draft moves. It all started with Bam Adebayo in 2017, arguably the second best franchise draft selection in history outside of Dwyane Wade. Years later were followed up with Tyler Herro, Jovic, Jaquez and now Kel’el Ware. Miami’s scouting department, even when it comes to undrafted talent, has proven to be one of the best in the business. 

According to multiple reports, the team has exercised the rookie deals to keep Jovic and Jaquez under contract throughout the 2025-26 season.

The young duo are projected to have big roles for the upcoming 2024-25 season, especially with the Heat losing out on Caleb Martin this summer. The Martin departure is going to make room for increased usage from their young stars in coach Erik Spoelstra’s rotation. Heat fans are very familiar with the long term potential that this duo can offer for the franchise, and it was showcased in starting rolers during the 2024 playoffs from each of them.

Jovic is coming off a season where he was slated next to Adebayo in the starting frontcourt. He averaged 7.7 points, 4.2 rebounds and 2.0 assists in only 19.5 minutes this year while shooting 40% from 3-point range. There is ample floor spreading and playmaking capabilities from the soon-to-be third year player to help Spoelstra’s offense. Listed at 6-foot-11, Jovic has point guard skills as someone that can push the pace and run offense for himself and others in transition.

Jaquez is coming off an impressive year of his own, where he earned first team All-Rookie honors and even has a couple Rookie of the Month awards under his belt. He averaged 11.9 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.6 assists on 48.9% shooting this past season. The polished offensive skill set was enough to earn regular rotation minutes right out of the gate, and will look to build on that heading into his sophomore season.

Appearing in 75 total games last year was good enough to lead the injury-stricken Heat in most games played for Jaquez as a rookie. There is reliability and consistency here, and may be just a solid 3-point shot away from emerging as one of the league’s premier role players.