Miami Heat center Kel'el Ware (7) looks on in the first half of his NBA game against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Kaseya Center on Nov. 12, 2025, in Miami. Photo by Matias J. Ocner mocner@miamiherald.com
While the Miami Heat continues to deal with periods of inconsistent play within games this season, there’s been one consistent thing for the Heat over the last few months.
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra continues to publicly challenge second-year center Kel’el Ware to be better.
It began this past offseason when Spoelstra called out 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.
Spoelstra’s latest public callout directed at Ware came following Thursday night’s 119-114 loss to the Boston Celtics at Kaseya Center. After benching Ware for the entire second half, Spoelstra did not hold back when asked why he didn’t play Ware after halftime.
“It was a tough matchup for him in Boston with all the coverages, and the same thing tonight,” Spoelstra said, with the Heat reaching the midway point of the season at 21-20. “He just has to stay ready. Look, with Kel’el, I know that’s a lightning-rod topic. He needs to get back to where he was eight weeks ago, seven weeks ago, where I felt and everybody in the building felt, he was stacking days, good days. He’s stacking days in the wrong direction now. He’s just got to get back to that. Stack days, build those habits, make sure you’re ready and play the minutes that you’re playing to a point where it makes me want to play you more.”
Ware, 21, logged 8:49 in Thursday’s first half in a reserve role before spending the entire second half on the Heat’s bench. The 7-footer recorded three points on 1-of-5 shooting from the field and 1-of-4 shooting from three-point range, five rebounds and a plus/minus of minus-8 in his lone stint of the night.
In the second half, Spoelstra opted to play a smaller lineup that featured 6-foot-10 forward Nikola Jovic at center while starting center Bam Adebayo was resting.
Ware’s biggest issues Thursday were on defense against Boston’s three-point shooting, with the Celtics relentlessly making him defend pick-and-rolls in space.
“I get it with some young players,” Spoelstra continued, with the Heat set to close its homestand Saturday against the defending NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder at Kaseya Center (8 p.m., FanDuel Sports Network Sun and WPLG Local 10). “You sometimes subconsciously play poorly to say, ‘Hey, I’ll play poorly until you play me the minutes I think I deserve. Then I’ll play well.’ That’s not how it works.”
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
But Ware has also flashed his intriguing upside during stretches this season, grabbing double-digit rebounds in nine straight games in November. He also posted seven double-double stat lines during that nine-game stretch.
Ware is averaging 11.7 points, 9.9 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game while shooting 54.3% from the field and 41.9% on 2.9 three-point attempts per game through the first 41 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 to earn a spot on the NBA All-Rookie Second Team.
But Ware’s production hasn’t led to positive minutes this season, as the Heat has been outscored by 3.2 points per 100 possessions while he has been on the court. With Ware on the bench, the Heat has outscored opponents by 5.9 points per 100 possessions this season.
When asked about Spoelstra’s latest postgame comments, retired Heat great Dwyane Wade said during Prime Video’s NBA coverage on Thursday: “The first part of the comments, I understand lockstep with understanding the days that need to be stacked for a young player. The second part of it, I don’t understand the subconsciousness of saying I’m going to play bad. I don’t get that. I’ve watched Ware, I don’t know him personally, but I’ve watched him from afar. The kid was playing so well earlier in the year, where It looked like he was a centerpiece. So, you hate to see that we got right here. But I don’t think he’s intentionally trying to play bad. I think he has a lot of things that he sees that go on. Then this game that we play, there’s not a lot of communication that goes on where you really try to get to understand each other because there’s not a lot of time.
“So it feels like it’s probably a misunderstanding of where he is at this point in his career. I’m sure he’s frustrated. I’m sure he has a lot of thoughts on what he should be doing and why he’s not doing that. But I don’t think subconsciously this kid is trying to go out there and sabotage his own minutes and his own career. It’s hard to get a rhythm and a flow when you don’t know when it’s coming.”
Retired Heat icon Udonis Haslem added during Prime Video’s NBA coverage on Thursday: “What I will say about Kel’el and any young basketball player is that there’s going to be so many things that are out of your control. I understand that’s frustrating. But if you step out on the basketball court and you’re playing in a situation where you’re frustrated, where you’re not enjoying the game, where you’re not playing with joy, you’re not playing your minutes hard, you’re not giving that effort and energy, then you allow everything that those coaches or whoever said to be right.
“Put them in a position to earn their money. Put them in a position to say, ‘He is one of our top seven or right guys, he should be playing. Let me figure out ways to get him more minutes because he deserves those minutes.’ I understand your minutes are going to fluctuate based on the situation with coaches. There is nothing you can do about it. But what you can do is every time you step out on the basketball court, make sure your minutes are impactful, make sure your minutes are positive.”
Ware, who was drafted by the Heat with the 15th overall pick in 2024, has brushed off Spoelstra’s tough love so far this season.
“I don’t really take anything bad or look at it a certain way,” Ware said in December. “I just stay myself and let it be.”
Ware has needed to brush off a lot so far this season. From Spoelstra’s challenges to already being pulled from the starting lineup multiple times, it has been a turbulent season for Ware despite some encouraging moments.
“Keep your head up,” Adebayo said of his message to Ware. “You’re young, obviously you’re ambitious, you want to play. My thing is don’t let stuff like this be the motivation. Discipline every day is what beats motivation. Because you can be motivated for two or three games and then go on a run, and it’s up and down. But discipline makes you be consistent.
“So my message always to him is to just be as consistent as possible. It might not be 20 [points] and 15 [rebounds] every night. It might be you get four points, but make your presence felt and have 15 rebounds, four blocks, whatever the case may be.”