Toronto Raptors forward Collin Murray-Boyles (12) and Miami Heat center Kel'El Ware (7) keep an eye on the rebound during the first half of their NBA basketball game at Kaseya Center in Miami on December 23, 2025. PHOTO BY AL DIAZ adiaz@miamiherald.com
Miami Heat second-year center Kel’el Ware is used to being coached hard.
Dana Altman was Ware’s first college coach at Oregon. Altman often publicly challenged Ware to play harder, one time explaining his diminished role by saying to reporters in January 2023: “I was disappointed in his effort. I let him know that. He’s going to have to make some adjustments or I’ve got to make some decisions. His time has been reduced. That doesn’t help us, because he is talented.”
After Ware transferred to Indiana for his sophomore college season, then-Hoosiers coach Mike Woodson said to reporters in Miami after Ware was drafted by the Heat that “it took me 30 days to break him a little bit.” Woodson added that his mindset was that “I got to figure out how to get the most out of this kid.”
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra hasn’t let up on Ware, challenging him multiple times in recent months. It began this past offseason when Spoelstra challenged Ware to “improve his professionalism, his consistency, his approach every single day” after his underwhelming start to summer league in July.
Spoelstra has also challenged Ware this season to make an impact on the game instead of just building impressive stat lines.
“That’s really the only coaches I’ve been around,” Ware said ahead of Friday night’s matchup against the Hawks in Atlanta. “So that’s really all I’m used to. So I don’t really take anything bad or look at it a certain way. I just stay myself and let it be.”
Miami Heat center Kel'el Ware (7) looks on during the second half of an NBA preseason game against the San Antonio Spurs at Kaseya Center on October 8, 2025, in Miami. D.A. Varela dvarela@miamiherald.com
Ware actually sees it as a compliment — a reflection of the upside and potential that his coaches see in him.
“I’ve been getting coached like that,” Ware, 21, continued. “So it’s not much of a big thing to me, I would say. I just take it as they want to see me be better and be a better version of myself.
Whatever is behind Spoelstra’s treatment of Ware, it has worked since Ware was drafted by the Heat with the 15th overall pick in 2015.
Ware enters Friday’s matchup against the Hawks averaging 12.5 points, 10.7 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game while shooting 56 percent from the field and 48 percent on 2.6 three-point attempts per game through the first 30 games of his second NBA season. That’s up from Ware’s rookie production, when 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 on threes.
But Spoelstra is still pushing for more from Ware, especially on the defensive end. Despite Ware’s standout numbers, the Heat has been outscored by four points per 100 possessions when he has been on the court this season.
”He’s handling it appropriately when he’s being held accountable to winning things,” Spoelstra said of Ware. “It doesn’t have to be like a negative thing. We all want the same thing. We want a better result. We want growth faster. I want him to be like he’s 28, and that’s not realistic. And a little bit of impatience is good, as long as everybody handles it appropriately. But his play, obviously, is improving, and I want to feel that.”
Spoelstra isn’t the only coach on the Heat’s staff who’s hard on Ware. Heat assistant coach Malik Allen, who is tasked with coaching the team’s big men, also makes sure to hold Ware to a high standard.
“I just think Malik is one of the most underrated coaches in this league,” Spoelstra said. “He has an amazing way of meeting players where they are, and then pushing them to another level. He’s such a consistent mentor, but also he backs it up with experience as a player and then coaching acumen, and then this magical area of just knowing how to communicate and connect with players.
“They do have a great relationship, and sometimes it’s tough love. You guys think I’m tough on Kel’el? I love it. But then also, Malik is the first one to put his arm around it and say, ‘Let’s go grab some lunch.’ I just love it. I love watching their dynamic.”
But ask Ware who is the toughest coach he has ever played for, and it’s not any of his Heat coaches. It’s not even either of his college coaches.
Ware points to his AAU coach Cory Jones, who started coaching him in third grade in Arkansas.
That style of coaching is really all Ware knows.
“I’ve kind of gotten used to this way of coaching,” Ware said. “So that’s why I say I don’t really pay that much mind to it. It doesn’t really affect me in that way because I’m used to it.”
INJURY REPORT
Heat three-time All-Star center Bam Adebayo is listed as questionable for Friday’s road game against the Hawks because of lower back soreness.
Adebayo has played in 16 straight games, but he has struggled recently. He has averaged just 11.8 points per game on 18-of-48 (37.5 percent) shooting from the field in the last four games.
Heat forward Keshad Johnson is also questionable for Friday’s matchup against the Hawks because of a head illness.
The positive news for the Heat is it appears that guard Pelle Larsson and forward Nikola Jovic are on the verge of making their returns, as they are both listed as probable for Friday’s contest in Atlanta. Jovic has missed the last four games with a right elbow contusion/laceration and Larsson has missed the last five games with a sprained left ankle.
But the Heat has already ruled out Vlad Goldin (G League), Tyler Herro (right big toe contusion), Terry Rozier (not with team) and Jahmir Young (G League) for Friday’s contest.
The Hawks will be without N’Faly Dante (knee), Eli John Ndiaye (G League) and Kristaps Porzingis (illness) against the Heat.
The Hawks also listed Nikola Djurisic (G League), Mouhamed Gueye (right shoulder sprain), Caleb Houstan (G League) and Malik Williams (G League) as questionable.