The Miami Heat completed their third of five NBA 2K26 Summer League games in Las Vegas, Nev., on Tuesday, securing their first win over the Boston Celtics, 100-96.
However, Tuesday marked the final game for second-year guard Pelle Larsson, who is headed to Europe to prepare for EuroBasket (Sweden), which begins Aug. 27.
The Heat are expected to have three representatives in EuroBasket: Larsson, Nikola Jovic (Serbia) and Simone Fontecchio (Italy).
Larsson has been the Heat’s best player in five Summer League games, averaging 17.4 points on 60.6 percent true shooting, in addition to three rebounds and three assists. But his departure should create more opportunity for rookie guard Kasparas Jakucionis, whose usage throughout the summer has been … odd.
Pelle Larsson’s departure should give Kasparas Jakucionis more runway to succeed and learn from mistakes:
It’s been a roller coaster summer for Jakucionis, a consensus top-12 prospect who fell to 20 in this year’s draft. He was awful offensively in the California Classic, but found his footing in Las Vegas.
In the Heat’s Vegas opener, he scored 24 points on 5-of-9 shooting from 3-point range with four rebounds, four assists and a pair of steals.
However, he did not play Tuesday (second night of a back-to-back) against Boston, and his usage has marginally decreased in his two games in Sin City. His assist rate has climbed nearly nine percentage points while his turnover rate has been essentially cut in half, but his usage decreased from 20.6 percent to 19.8 percent.
We’re dealing with a very small sample of games, but personally, I was hoping for Jakucionis to be more on-ball than he has been — especially when Larsson is off the floor. Instead, guards Erik Stevenson and Kira Lewis Jr. have assumed more on-ball responsibility — with mixed results.
Perhaps they’re preparing him for a role off-the-ball at the next level. But this is the perfect time to let Jakucionis make reads and work through any struggles he’s enduring on-ball. I don’t think the Heat, for better or worse, has quite done that.
Larsson’s departure should, in theory, reward him that opportunity, even though it could also mean more usage for their other aforementioned guards.
Will there be more to take away from Summer League games? Not much. But these are perfect moments for the 6-foot-5 guard to endure growing pains heading into the fall, where he could be competing for a spot in the rotation. Let him continue to acclimate and adapt! Let him continue to gain confidence and work through mistakes!
In five Summer League contests, Kasparas Jakucionis, 19, is averaging 8.4 points, 2.4 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.4 steals, shooting just 31.3 percent from the floor and 22.7 percent from 3-point range.
What are you looking for over these final Summer League games? Let us know in the comments!
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Good, he was a ball hog !
Pelle may have been our best player in the SL, but Ware, even when not fully engaged, is our most NBA ready player. As we get to see Pelle more and more, a fuller picture emerges, with some strengths and other weaknesses. In fairness to Larsson, some of his difficult moments were related to being asked to play point guard or when he did not have other options and had to force shots. The jury is still out on Pelle, and he still has a shot. I did like the way he handled the confrontation with the Celtic player. He was very much in control and reacted well.