At 21, this hardly is men among boys for Ke’lel Ware. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t oversized expectations for the Miami Heat 7-footer in this, his second NBA summer league.

Back in the starting lineup for Sunday’s 103-83 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers in the California Classic in San Francisco, Ware closed with 12 points on 4-of-10 shooting and three rebounds in his 28 minutes at Chase Center.

While there was a spinning step-back 3-point conversion early and several quality finishes at the rim from the No. 15 pick out of Indiana in the 2024 NBA draft, it was not exactly the domination sought from summer coach Erik Glass, the Erik Spoelstra assistant.

On an afternoon when Glass gave the day off to returning players Pelle Larsson and Keshad Johnson, the Heat focus largely was on Ware and 2025 first-round pick Kasparas Jakucionis.

With Ware, the expectations remain ongoing.

“We’re not just going to dump it into the post with him 10 times,” Glass said of the summer approach with Ware. “But we’re just looking for him to dominate. When you’re protecting the rim … dominate. When you’re going for every rebound … dominate. There’s no one-click button for it all.”

Ware said it’s a matter of getting back up to speed.

“I’m just getting back into the flow of it. It’s been a little while from game-time play. It’s about fitting into game-time situations,” he said.

As for that step-back 3-pointer, he said, “I mean that’s something that showed up in the moment. But playing around at the gym, you just do certain things, so it’s something I’ve gotten used to doing. So it’s nothing brand new for me.”

For the second consecutive game, Jakucionis struggled to create space for his trademark attacking game, closing with four points on 0-for-3 shooting, along with five turnovers.

Five Degree of Heat from Sunday’s game:

1. For starters: With the game concluding a back-to-back set that opened with Saturday’s victory over the summer roster of the San Antonio Spurs, Glass gave the day off to Larsson, Johnson and Kira Lewis Jr. after their solid showings a day earlier.

Remaining in the starting lineup were Ware and Jakucionis.

Sunday’s Heat starting lineup was rounded out by Javonte Cooke, the guard who went undrafted out of Winston-Salem in 2023 and has played the past two seasons in the G League; Myron Gardner, the forward who went undrafted out of Little Rock in 2023, who also has played the past two seasons in the G League; and Bryson Warren, the guard who was on the Heat’s summer roster last year and then played this past season with the Heat G League affiliate.

Warren paced the Heat with 18 points, with Cooke adding a team-high seven rebounds.

Also held out by Glass was Vlad Goldin, the massive 7-footer out of FAU and Michigan who has been signed to a two-way contract.

2. Quality opposition: The Lakers played with some of their Sunday best, their starting lineup featuring Bronny James, son of LeBron James; Dalton Knecht, the 2024 first-round pick who received minutes last season with the Lakers; and Cole Swider, the 3-point specialist who was with the Heat two seasons ago on a two-way contract.

Also in the Lakers’ Sunday starting lineup was Trey Jemison III, the well-traveled center who has had stints with the Washington Wizards, Memphis Grizzlies, New Orleans Pelicans and Lakers.

Swider led the Lakers with 20 points. James closed with 10 points, Knecht with four.

3. Still limited: A day after being limited to three points on 1-of-7 shooting in his debut, Jakucionis, the No. 20 pick out of Illinois, this time took just one shot in the first half, closing the opening two periods with two points.

After opening at shooting guard on Saturday, Jakucionis this time opened at point guard, again limited by teammates’ wayward shooting and his own miscues.

“We’ll continue to watch film with him and coach him up,” Glass said. “There’s a learning curve for him and we’ll help him with that process so we can get those turnovers down.”

He closed with two assists and two rebounds in his 20 minutes.

“We’re not going to overwhelm him, put a bunch of pressure on him,” Glass said of expectations with Jakucionis. “Right now, it’s about him learning us and us learning him, him feeling comfortable in our system. We’re not just going to throw him into the water with a bunch of sharks. We’re going to set it up hopefully for some success and we just want him to learn our system and learn how to compete and learn how to do all of those kind of things.”

4. Free throws: A rule that has been in play in the G League and since has been adopted for this year’s summer leagues came into play at the end of the first two periods.

That’s when the Heat’s Erik Stevenson and the Lakers’ James were off with heaves and not credited with missed field-goal attempts.

Under the rule that yet could be adopted for the coming NBA season:

“An unsuccessful end-of-period ‘heave’ will be recorded as a team – not individual – missed field-goal attempt when all of the following criteria are met:

“The missed field goal attempt took place within the final three seconds of the first three periods of a game.

“The missed field goal attempt was shot from beyond the outer edge of the center circle extended (approximately 36 feet from the basket).

“The play originated in the backcourt.”

Instead, the official play-by-play for both shots simply read, “Heave,” with no mention of the players attempting the shots, which would have been scored as a shot and a 3-point conversion if successful.

5. Up next: The Heat conclude their three-game schedule in San Francisco on Tuesday at 7 p.m. against the Golden State Warriors’ summer roster, one that features Will Richard, the guard drafted out of Florida in the second round of the NBA draft two weeks ago.

The Heat then will move on to the larger Las Vegas NBA Summer League, where they will open play Friday at 4:30 p.m. Eastern against the summer roster of the Atlanta Hawks.

Originally Published: July 6, 2025 at 6:33 PM EDT