As a result of converting Myron Gardner to a standard contract, the Miami Heat will be using their final two-way spot on guard Trevor Keels, the team announced.
Keels, who was a second-round draft pick (No. 42 overall) in the 2022 NBA Draft, joined the Heat organization last summer after three seasons inside the New York Knicks and Minnesota Timberwolves organizations.
The Duke alum is averaging 18.6 points across 35 games with the Sioux Falls Skyforce this season. He’s been outstanding, especially since the regular season’s tipped off. In 22 regular season games, Keels is averaging 20.3 points 3.2 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 1.1 steals on 46.2 percent shooting, including 39.2 percent from 3-pont range and 73.5 percent from the free-throw line.
Previously, the Heat’s two-way players — Gardner (formerly), Jahmir Young and Vlad Goldin — were only eligible to be active for 90 combined days due to the Heat not having a full 15-man roster.
That trio has played 36 combined games, but have, technically, been active for many more. Now that the Heat are operating with a full 15-man unit, each two-way — including Keels — will be eligible to play a maximum of 50 games apiece the rest of the season.
Keels has only appeared in three career NBA games, all coming in 2022-23 with the New York Knicks. He totaled eight minutes, scoring three points with two rebounds on 1-of-4 shooting.
***
This is a developing news story. Stay tuned for updates!
To check out our other content, click here.
Follow Hot Hot Hoops on Twitter/X here!
Follow Hot Hot Hoops on Instagram here!
Check out Hot Hot Hoops on Facebook here!
Subscribe to our YouTube channel here!
- Bam Adebayo reveals that LaMelo Ball didn’t apologize about tripping incident
- Bam Adebayo receives one vote for coveted award
- Jaime Jaquez Jr. named finalist for Sixth Man of the Year award
- Heat will have 13th best lottery odds ahead of 2026 NBA Draft
- How this Heat rookie ‘surprised’ many in organization
- Why this two-man combination was ‘challenging’ for Heat
- How the Miami Heat can move up to 12th in lottery race
AMEN! THIS IS WHAT SEVERAL OF US HAVE BEEN SAYING ALL SEASON.
Nikola Jovic is in the midst of an identity crisis (excerpt allucanheat 2/19/26)
“Right now, it does feel like Jovic is in the midst of an identity crisis. It’s almost as if he doesn’t know how to fit in with the Heat. And considering that his role can change from night to night, it’s been even more difficult for Jovic to find his footing.
What makes this all the more difficult to digest is the fact that heading into the start of the season, Jovic was considered to be one of the brighter spots for this team. He was quickly tabbed as a breakout candidate and many believed this year would be a coming-out party for the four-year wing.
To say that hasn’t happened would be a massive understatement. Jovic has regressed in nearly every statistical category this season, and there are real doubts about whether he fits in the long-term plans of this team. In fact, the only real reason why he’s still getting somewhat consistent minutes is that the Heat already has so much invested in his development.
Before the season, the Heat took a gamble on Jovic by giving him a four-year contract extension. That gamble has yet to pay off, but Miami is almost forced to try to make it work because of that.
If the Heat hadn’t given him that contract extension before the season, there’s a strong argument to be made that he’s probably not in Erik Spoelstra’s rotation anymore.
Jovic still has plenty of time to change the narrative of the season, but if it doesn’t happen soon, this is a dark cloud that is likely going to carry into the offseason and beyond. That’s something that Jovic doesn’t want, and one thing that Heat fans won’t be thrilled about.”
There aren’t too many worse situations than wrongfully giving out a big contract and because of that having to force that player onto the court and then that player repeatedly laying an egg. We keep hearing that there’s still time to turn things around. Maybe that’s what you say when you spent 62 million, but for how long?.
They urgently need to send him down to G League ASAP to get his head and game together. Sky Force still has 14 games left. Starting 6-8 games in a row and getting plenty of minutes without NBA pressure, may help him calm down, clear his head and find his game. Persisting in choosing to plug him in a few minutes per game until he screws up is doing no one any good, especially Jovic.
If Spo handles this correctly, Jovic may be playing well enough in a few weeks to insert him back into the rotation. Otherwise, he may continue in a downward spiral until the offseason…and beyond.
“For success, attitude is equally as important as ability.”
~ Harry F. Banks ~
You’ve been saying this for quite some time now and I am not judging the merits of the idea, but do you think they will actually do that? I don’t think they will. You don’t need to explain to me the merits of doing it, or the potential consequences of not doing it. I do understand your thought process.
Well, first off, I am glad that we brought this guy up as he certainly deserves a look. He’s probably going to help us be a little deeper, and may even give us a spark every now and then.
OTOH, he’s certainly not a needle mover. Adding this from the buy out list is just another piece of evidence that we aren’t exactly going for it this year. The Sixers made a couple of pretty good potential acquisitions, as have others, since the deadline. This mantra of never tanking should be qualified in our Ten Commandments to say, we never tank, but we may not go for a chance to go far in the playoffs either. And gap years have their consequences also as other teams improve and our players get older and usually more expensive.
The current hype is that we did pretty good without Tyler, just wait till we get our guys back. And when Ty’s imminent return occurs, we will likely start him and bench Davion. The logic is why not take advantage of his scoring, where we are statistically inefficient. And yes, Ty will get you twenty, he’s a very good offensive player. And that is about 13 more than Davion might chip in. But, Ty will give up ten more than Davion would. And even worse, our one very positive offensive stat, low turnovers, will be negatively impacted by Ty bringing the ball up. Worse, even when we don’t have turnovers, the lack of a fluid, organized entry into the front court is going to hurt our offense a lot. The benefits of having Ty be a starter are just not there and it has been seen several times in the recent past during the rare times he was healthy.
Most of all, so much of what comes out of the GM’s commentary, in the few messages he does send out, are rudderless excuses for continued mediocrity. Here’s to hoping that this year, if it continues in the direction it appears to be heading, this year will be the last year we will accept these, not truly aggressive and not very effective, efforts to improve our team as the best he can do.
Correction- I know Keels wasn’t from the buy out list. I should have said after the deadline and during the buy out period.
Aren’t there any PF types out there who Miami can develop? Johnson can possibly be a two-way rotation player if he gets some pt here and there so he can acquire experience?
As mentioned, Keels has played well, been compared to Dort, and had a 46 point 12/12 3p effort this season.
A some point, Miami is going to need to trade a guard or two.