The Miami Heat came up short in their pursuit of star forward Kevin Durant last month, and their reluctance to include rising sophomore Kel’el Ware in a deal for the veteran might’ve played a role in the outcome.
Now, Ware is ready to show the Heat that they made the right call by keeping him.
“It made me feel the Heat wanted me, and they want to see how far I can get in the future and see how my development goes,” Ware said of reportedly being protected in trade talks. “That makes me want to show them what I can do and how far I can go.”
Ware explained what the process was like for him during the Durant negotiations.
“Of course my agent spoke to me, of course,” Ware said. “But I didn’t really see too much of it. It was one of the things I was like if it happens, it happens. If not, if not. You got to think the Heat didn’t want to give me up, but that means the other team wanted me. I didn’t really pay no mind to it.”
He continued.
“I would just say they see the potential in me and they see where I can be,” he said. “So my main goal is to just sort of repay that they didn’t make a mistake.”
Ware didn’t go in the lottery portion of the 2024 NBA Draft, but he certainly played like one of the top rookies in the league this past season.
Across 64 games and 36 starts, he averaged 9.3 points, 7.4 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game while shooting 55.4 percent from the field and 31.5 percent from deep.
There were some stretches during the season where he looked like a future star, like in late January, when he dropped at least 20 points in three straight games. Around that time, there were even some whispers about similarities between him and San Antonio Spurs rising phenom Victor Wembanyama.
It was also in late January that a report surfaced describing the Heat as “thrilled” with Ware. Miami reportedly didn’t expect him to make such an impact as a rookie.
From the start of that aforementioned three-game stretch through the end of the regular season, Ware nearly averaged a double-double across 39 appearances and was a frequent starter. He posted 11.1 points, 9.7 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game during that span.
The next step for Ware, who earned All-Rookie Second Team honors, will be to show signs of growth in his second NBA season and perhaps take a bit of a leap. Sooner or later, he could grow into a star at the NBA level. Time is on the 21-year-old’s side, and so is the Heat franchise.