Pelle Larsson’s time with the 2025 Miami Heat Summer League came to a close after Monday’s win against the Boston Celtics.
No, the second-year guard wasn’t being shut down — though under normal circumstances, it probably would’ve been the right call.
Larsson left for Europe this week to help his home country, Sweden, prepare for this fall’s EuroBasket, which begins in late August.
There’s no doubt that Larsson’s been the Heat’s best player in Summer League. He acted as the team’s primary initiator and creator. And the 6-foot-5 guard spoke about getting those reps in this kind of environment after primarily operating off-ball with the Heat as a rookie.
“(It’s a) very, very good experience for me,” Larsson said, according to Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald. “I’m going to have more of it this summer with the national team, as well. So I just got to keep growing with that. I had too many, maybe, lapses of focus handling the ball (today). But it’s a great learning experience.
“Maybe if I don’t get as many in one single game, I’ll still get some of them. So when I get those opportunities, I need to make sure I’m ready and capable. It’s just building that confidence and knowledge.”
While Larsson, 24, said during his end-of-season press conference that he wanted to improve everything, the skill that I wanted him to improve most was his ballhandling if his role was going to increase.
Here’s what I wrote about him in late May:
“Larsson didn’t shoot the ball particularly well as a rookie, but he has a strong shooting track record dating back to his freshman season at Utah. While that may be a sticking point, I’m not overly concerned about it in the long term. Not that I am super concerned about his ballhandling either, but it must improve considering how frequently he tried to create getting downhill. Larsson was an adept decision-maker and was always very physical, but his ballhandling was oftentimes shaky in traffic. I foresee his role expanding in his second year (depending on how the rest of the roster is shaped), so I think improving his handle needs to be a priority.”
While we’re dealing with a microscopic sample of five games against lower-level competition, I thought Larsson’s ballhandling and downhill creation were fairly solid, for the most part. The reps weren’t always perfect, but there was tangible improvement.
He didn’t shoot the ball well from the floor, partially due to the on-ball burden he had (26.3 USG%), but he still averaged 17.4 points, 3.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists on 60.6 percent true shooting. Once again, I’m not worried that he won’t be able to shoot it the more he continues to acclimate to the NBA. His track record is stable enough.
I’d be lying to tell you if I wasn’t excited to watch Larsson thrive on the European stage for Sweden — while also curious to see what his role looks like. There will be two other Heat players who are expected to partake in EuroBasket: Nikola Jovic (Serbia) and Simone Fontecchio (Italy).
As the roster is currently constructed, there’s a world where Larsson becomes an impact rotation player off the bench. I foresee him having more on-ball responsibility as a sophomore, so taking what he’s gathered over the last year-plus and continuing to improve is crucial — whether it’s on- or off-the-ball.
The former No. 44 overall pick has the skillset to be very impactful on both ends — he’ll just have to continue to put the pieces together as time goes on.
Now, let’s see what rookie Kasparas Jakucionis can do with the rock.
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Pelle got moves similar to Tyler Johnson. In other news, a bit of noise…Bron and his kiddo for Wiggs, JJJ and Terry. Nope for me. He doesn’t like Spo and can’t cry to Riley lol
I think Larsson will be battling for a place in the team’s rotation. It is becoming very apparent that this is the year players such as Jovic, Jaquez and Johnson need to show considerable improvement or they may become expendable.
at best they are rotationals players no studs in this group
Teams can always use rotational players on rookie contracts. The cheaper…the better.
need higher quality rotational players.reason why ind beat nyk was their rotation guys ditto okc over denver.in some cases rotation players in are the difference.need more brothers on this team.just getting back from vaca but reading u and rc overseas looks like keshod not looking to good thats a bummer i was hoping he would def be rotational guy .your posts are awesome sun btw.on behalf of all my hhh bros we thank u for them the work that goes in to them is awesome
H4L, Always telling it like it is. Our one win this season in the SL came against a motley crew of mostly white guys on the Celtics, and then the one guy, Walsh, they had doing well got tossed. The interactions for the Heat in the SL, between white players and black goes about 3/1, for the black player. Everyone may dislike that comment but if you watch, it’s the absolute truth. The two teams we lost to had mostly blacks. I know Boston won their first two games but I dont see how, maybe they used different players against us. Make no mistake, the Celtics team we played was terrible, almost took away any value of our win.
Anyone who disagrees with anything I just said above, I ask you to rewatch the three SL games and tell me if everything I said isn’t true.
In short, we do need more brothers, no question. And not Keshod, he is marginal, can dunk, has to improve elsewhere. We have 6 white players now, can’t win with six, got to get down to three or four with our batch of players. We can win with three or four but no more because our best white player, Ty, is only an overall impact high B+ player. Is that so terrible to say? I hope not. Dont shoot the messenger. Sorry, just keeping it real. Hope you had a great time in Europe.
It’s very easy to stereotype people based on race. If Miami has marginal white players AND marginal black ones, that has to do with their draft positions and selections. It also has to do with their ability to pick over the bones (undrafted players) and make something out of nothing (Robinson, Strus, Vincent, Martin, Highsmith, Haslem, T. Johnson, McGruder, Nunn and others). Notice there is not an all-star or Hall of Famer in the bunch.
Simply picking more black players and fewer white ones is not the answer. Picking more two-way players is the answer, regardless of race. Again, without tanking, it will be very difficult to get quality two-players of the caliber OKC’s.
My response is….see today’s game vs the Pistons, in the light that I wrote this before that game. You’re being nice, and PC, and taking the high road, and that’s nice. But, two way white players are pretty hard to find. And this will likely be the year all the hopeful optimism will come to be judged in the harsh light of reality. We shall see how the careers of some of our players bear out.
Again, easy to be a cheerleader, much harder to tell inconvenient truths.
Thanks heat. Actually, I was going to suggest the Heat need more two-way white dudes and fewer one-way bros. If Miami’s rotational players aren’t as good as OKC’s, maybe it’s because the Thunder has had a buttload of first round draft picks (including several lottery picks) and has used those picks wisely to select some very good players or used them in trades to acquire good players. The Heat hasn’t had a lottery pick since 2019 (#13…Tyler Herro).
I get it, more two way white guys, that’s the ticket…My new response to everything that happens until we stop with this failed social experiment is, “ Hey, at least we’ll be integrated.”