Bam Adebayo believes Kel'el Ware can compete for DPOY in future

Kel'el Ware Bam Adebayo — (Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images)

During the Miami Heat’s Jan. 19 meeting against the San Antonio Spurs, three-time All-Star Bam Adebayo and rookie Kel’el Ware saw their first extended minutes sample–something many were wishing would occur after the Heat selected the 7-foot big No. 15 overall nearly seven months prior.

The duo rallied them back from a double-digit deficit in the first half. Heat head coach Spoelstra opted to start them in the second half together for the first time, posting a 169.2 offensive rating while outscoring San Antonio by 11 in their six second-half minutes together. Miami’s lead eventually ballooned to 24, so they didn’t play together the rest of the way.

But Miami’s longtime head coach saw more than enough to start them together the rest of the season. The results were mixed, but they posted a 5.8 NET Rating with a 110.1 defensive rating the rest of the way (including play-in, postseason). As a result, they look to be the team’s frontcourt of the future:

Heat captain Bam Adebayo was very complimentary of Kel’el Ware’s ceiling defensively:

The Heat captain spoke about Ware during his end-of-season press conference this week, stating that he believes Ware could be in the conversation for Defensive Player of the Year–an award Adebayo has finished in the top-5 in each of his last five seasons entering 2024-25.

“Like I said before, I think he can be a great player in this league,” Adebayo said. “He can be one of the ones where we’ll constantly be talking about every year of, you know, he could be in the contention (for the Defensive Player of the Year award) because he’ll think at some point a guy got a layup and then it’s four rows into the stands.”

Ware, who turned 21-years-old at the start of their first-round series against Cleveland, averaged 9.3 points, 7.4 rebounds and 1.1 blocks this year across 64 games, including 36 starts. After the All-Star break, he posted 10.3 points, 9.7 rebounds and 1.3 blocks on 60.5 percent true shooting. Ware earned nearly a handful of votes for the Rookie of the Year award, which San Antonio’s Stephon Castle won.

The offense with him alongside Adebayo was still clunky because of their spacing–or lack thereof. Adebayo made tremendous strides with his 3-point shot since the turn of the calendar, but Ware’s long-range shooting was far more theoretical than practical, even though he showcased soft touch inside of 15 feet.

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That said, we saw how much Ware’s presence took pressure off Adebayo on both ends of the floor; the 27-year-old still shouldered a big burden, but he was far more efficient offensively and was better defensively toward the end of the season with Ware on the floor. As the young big gets stronger, I’m curious to see how he continues to develop defensively as a drop big.

What Ware must improve to consistently be in that conversation is his body positioning, awareness and timing on his shot blocking. His consistently defensive play wasn’t the best, either.

Counting stats do matter if you want to be in the Defensive Player of the Year conversation, but how you impact your team’s defense does too. The Heat were 0.8 points worse per 100 possessions when Ware was on versus when he wasn’t (42nd percentile), per Cleaning The Glass. Improvement will come with more reps, but if he improves those three things (as well as getting stronger), it will be more difficult for teams to attack him in the pick-and-roll and bully him on the interior–which occurred throughout this season, especially in the playoffs.