We are rolling onward with our 2025-26 Miami Heat player review series. And today, we break down the season from rookie guard Kasparas Jakucionis. Let’s dive into it!
Past Player Reviews:
Brief Overview:
2025-26 stats (53 games):
- 6.2 PPG
- 2.6 RPG
- 2.6 APG
- 42.9 FG%
- 42.3 3P%
- 56.7 eFG%
- 61.4 TS%
Jakucionis was the No. 7 player on my 2025 big board entering the draft. I didn’t think there would a realm of possibility that he would be available at No. 20. Evidently, I was wrong.
He struggled in Summer League, but adapted well throughout his rookie season. His numbers weren’t outstanding, but his impact was. We’ll dive deeper into a few of the numbers shortly, but he was an outstanding spot-up shooter and held his own defensively, even though he wasn’t featured on-ball much. All in all, it was a successful rookie season for the 19-year-old Lithuanian.
Numbers to note:
48.1 – Spot up 3-point percentage:
Jakucionis shot only 33.3 percent from deep in his lone season at Illinois. He was a 40+ percent 3-point shooter pre-arm injury, and his on-ball burden ate up some of his long-range efficiency.
Those factors alone suggested he’d be a better 3-point shooter at the NBA level. That said, I didn’t expect him to be this good. His 42.3 percent 3-point percentage was 18 percent above league average (according to BBR’s era-adjusted stat), which is already impressive. But his 48.1 catch-and-shoot 3-point percentage takes the cake.
Of the 271 players who hoisted at least 100 spot-up attempts, Jakucionis’ spot-up percentage ranks third — trailing only Anthony Edwards (49.6) and Luke Kennard (49.3), two of the best volume 3-point shooters in the NBA. It’s not on tremendous volume, but that’s a genuinely absurd clip that nobody could’ve foreseen.
57.4 – Rim field goal percentage:
On the other hand, Jakucionis’ finishing around the rim was bad — really bad.
His lack of a tight handle, vertical explosiveness and sheer burst will limit his finishing upside as a pro. He’s just not a great athlete. Jakucionis converted on 57.4 percent of his attempts at the rim, a mark that ranked him in the 31st percentile among all guards, according to Cleaning The Glass.
Additionally, he shot a measly 7-of-23 on short 2s (~4-14 feet), and failed to self-create many advantages to allow for more margin-for-error. He’s still young, and these are part of the growing pains that come with being a guard in the NBA.
3.4 – Deflections per 36 minutes
Two concerns I had regarding Jakucionis out of Illinois were his foot speed and screen navigation — and how he would adapt to the NBA defensively due to those limitations. He squashed those as a rookie. From the start of summer league to the end of his first season, he showed plenty of flashes defensively.
Most notably, the Heat’s 6-foot-5 guard generated 3.4 deflections per 36 minutes. That’s the third-highest mark on the Heat — trailing only Dru Smith (6.2) and Myron Gardner (4.1). Additionally, his 3.4 deflections per 36 ranks in the 82nd percentile of all players who played at least 750 minutes this season.
Best Game?
In a Feb. 8 contest against the Washington Wizards, Jakucionis poured on what would be a season-high 22 points on 8-of-10 shooting and a perfect 6-of-6 from 3-point range. He added three rebounds, six assists, two steals and one block in the Heat’s dominant 31-point win.
What’s next?
I fully expect Jakucionis to compete for the starting job before the regular season. If not, then I think there’s a world where he earns it during the season. He’ll need to improve his ballhandling and play finishing, but I think he’s got the feel and passing chops to be a lead playmaker as soon as next year, at the very least.
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Philly takes it. Not having Tatum cooked Boston’s goose down the stretch. How did I predict that? I am not a gambler but I also said someone could have won some money before the series and I said it again as soon as I heard Embiid was coming back.
With Embiid healthy Sixers can compete with most teams. The had played. Probably would have lost if Tatum had played. Thems the breaks. Glad it was Boston. Next up I would like to see Detroit and Cleveland lose. Knicks would then be only top 4 team in East to advance.
Just have him focus on assists
All the comments consistently about race and imagined characteristics based on appearance, really sad and never seen another basketball site like it.
Heat were +4.1 in Jakucionis’ 946 minutes this year. They will be trying to keep Jakucionis out of trades, other teams will be trying to include him in a trade, but people here think he is a worse prospect than players not even in the Heat’s rotation?
Jakucionis as a poor man’s Havlicek (because their faces look alike and both from Eastern Europe?) Havlicek 13x All-Star, 11x All-NBA, 8x All-Defense, Finals MVP, the best all around player ever according to Bill Russell – what even is a poor man’s Havlicek, a multi time All-Star?
s/b poor man donte divicenzo hondo was a heckuva player prob top 50 all time.remember him in motion all the time
So another comparison based purely on appearance, you’re comparing players who play different positions, Divincenzo is a 2, Jakucionis is a 1/PG.
Everyone acts so surprised when the discussion becomes about race. But, you really shouldn’t be.
Let’s just go thru a few contenders. The Knicks, one white guy, always on the bench, still contending. The Wolves, with Dante’s injury, one white guy, always on the bench. still contending. Philly, no white guys at all, still contending. San Antonio, one white guy, plays a few backup minutes, another familiar one always benched, still contending. Detroit, one white starter, btw often not in during crunch time, one on the bench, rarely plays, still contending. Orlando, with Franz injury, one white guy, plays a few non consequential minutes, but without Franz could get knocked out. Houston, two white guys, one real central to the teams success, the other starts, but comes out at crunch time, gets blamed for the teams shortcomings sometimes, still contending. LA, Boston, OKC and Cleveland use more white players, but I believe OKC is the most ideal situation.
So, to reiterate, six teams that are still in contention have no significant white contribution, two more have one important white player to their contending. And four more get a little more help from their white players.
And, knowing that, the Heat drafted another white player at twenty and another (great pick) in the second round when they already had five white players. They subsequently traded Love, but still, why wouldn’t we talk about it? I ask again, how can we not talk about it? This isn’t the rest of the NBA, this is one very unique situation where noone makes the same kind of decisions except, to some extent, Boston and LA, and they have superstars to carry those teams.
Again,,why are you surprised that we are talking about it. It needs to be talked about!!!!! Anywhere else it would never come up, but here it is an issue. Stop trying to sweep it under the rug or ignore it!!!!
The idea that there is some kind of conspiracy here is, imo, far fetched. Where was it when they drafted Ware? Where was it when they brought in Powell, Wiggins, and Mitchell? Where was it when they converted Keshad, Dru, Gardner, and Jahmir, and not Vlad? The 5 players chosen after Kas were Riley, Powell, Newell, Clifford, and Richardson. A couple turned out about as good, but none were better picks than Kas. The next 4 picks after those were White/Hispanic. Locked On Heat added to the flurry of speculative trades by suggesting Jokic to the Heat. That made me chuckle. If Jokic was ever traded to the Heat, please raise your hand if anyone here would complain about another White addition.
I absolutely agree with you RC. For purposes of clarification and proper classifications of players, we must first ask a few questions, as follows:
What about white Americans vs white Europeans?
What about mixed race African-Americans and mixed race African-Europeans vs full blooded Africans? If mostly black athletes such as African-Americans are superior to whites, it only stands to reason that full blooded African players would be superior to regular African-Americans mixed race/mullatto Afro-Americans and Afro-Europoeans?
Likewise, using physical characteristics, Asians, Latinos and Pacific Islanders would be below whites whereas mixed race/African Asians, African Latinos and African Pacific Islanders would be above regular white American and European players, but below full blooded Africans, Mixed race black & white African Americans and Afro-Europeans.
If we are going to use physical characteristics and athleticism as barometers of the likelihood of success, do we ignore other factors such as IQ (BBIQ and otherwise), character, criminal propensities, family histories, work ethic, social compatibility, psychological profiles, etc? When you start breaking it all down, it can get very confusing. It’s not as easy as just Black vs White.
BTW, in the last 15 years, Miami has drafted a total of
1 White American (Herro)1 White/Latino American (Jaquez) 4 white Europeans (Jakucionis, Durisic traded for Larsson, Jovic and Bogdonovic) and 13 Africans and African Americans
Where Miami has selected a higher number of non-black players is from the scrap heaps known as undrafted players and the G League. In those cases, Miami has had tremendous success in developing the players into NBA starters and rotation players. To name a few:
Udonis Haslem,
Kendrick Nunn,
Duncan Robinson,
Max Strus, Gabe Vincent,
Caleb Martin,
Derrick Jones Jr.,
Rodney McGruder,
Hassan Whiteside, and T
yler Johnson*8 of the 10 were African-Americans
(*Johnson is mixed race black & white)
So to repeat, there are, at minimum, at least 7 classes/categories of NBA prospects/players, based on athleticism. They include::
#1 Africans (pure blodded)
#2 African Americans (small amount of white blood)
#3 African + white European and African plus white American
#4 African + Asian, African + Latino and African + Pacific Islander
#5 American and European whites
#6 Latino/White mix, Asian/White Mix and Pacific Islander/White mix
#7 Regular Latinos, Asians and Pacific Islanders
I hope this clarifies things for everyone.
Blah blah blah blah. You can all pretend. You know I’m right. I stand by my comments. I put it out there because it needed to be said. I’ll be the bad guy.
We know you’re right? Really? Let’s define that. I, and most people would agree that, in genera terms, black/mixed race athletes are more athletic. We agree.
Suggesting there is a conspiracy to intentionally recruit white players over others? Totally disagree.
Suggesting you would no longer be a fan or follow the team or hhh if a white player is chosen at 13? Totally disagree.
Suggesting that even if a white player is more talented and rated higher, that a Black player should be picked? Absurd.
I respect your right to believe what you want to believe. But it doesn’t mean that I agree and it doesn’t mean either of us are wrong.
The NBA doesn’t need to have a quota system or Affirmative Action. It looks like the brothers are doing well.
If you believe your team is run by racists, find another team to follow. Like politics, if your candidate is filling his pockets and isn’t doing anything to help improve your life, vote for the other guy.
The only part I have said is just this, at some point, use of more than three white players in your regular rotation seems to have a deleterious affect on team success. I’ve never said anything but that. About our GM, there is no conspiracy, no racism, just poor choices.
You have a right to your opinion. We all do. I just don’t think you are considering all the factors. See my response to Hothothoopsfan4life below.
P.S. Don’t blame me…I’m only the piano player.
I don’t blame you. I got nothing but respect for everyone here. Everyone has a right to their opinion, and no one has to agree with it. Now that I’m standing alone, it’s not so bad to take an unpopular stance., especially if you truly believe it.
No conspiracy, the only one I ever believed was the grassy knoll. No, it’s plain old bad judgement, thinking you can find players others passed on because the others had false concerns.
Sometimes it seems to me, that you are seeing an basketball team as a recipe for a meal. A little white or a bit of brown allowed, but not both at the same time, and a looooooot of black, and there it is….. a champion team.
Its a little more complicated then that, you need a delicate mix of height, speed, grind, sweat, skill, with a lot of brain, will and luck involved.
You wont find colour in the list above, because its rather irrelevant.
Yes, there is that aspect of it, the colors of the rainbow (as the company Benetton used to say), that blurs the realities, but only a little. Everyone knows what I mean. And race is part of that equation, along with height, speed, grind, sweat, skill, smarts, and luck.
Only people mad when the race of most of Mia heat players is brought up are the ones who know it’s true the most.
Yes none of us would complain about this if it were Jokic Luka cooper this is true but, we don’t have them we have a bunch of Tyler herro types in different fonts
I don’t understand what y’all are bitchin about?
5 of the 6 highest paid Miami heat players in 2025-2026 were
B–L-A-C-K!
They plus the other blacks on the team represented over $150M of the Heat’s $186.4M payroll.
Y’all bitchin about the table scraps while the white overseers are laughing all the way to the bank.
Reminds me of what is going on in America these days.
The corporations, billionaires and corrupt politicians are gouging the public on everything from gas, to food, to housing, etc., and cleaning out the treasury while…
They have the little guys distracted and fighting among themselves.
Wake TF up! Y’all have been/continue to be played!
I watched Houston game. A bunch of most athletic brothers you can find in the league, just muster 60 points 5 min to go to the end of the game, with two vanillas contributed a little less then half of those.
Dunking, blocking and jumping wont bring you high enough to win games. You need a little shooting to do that, too. It looks like, nobody told those players that.
Maybe also because fans like you prize athletism over anything else, and players and coaches knows that.
All those players has incredible talent and physical gifts, but instead of developing things which would made them great players, their talent is wasted, and they are making houses from brick instead of winning games.
If nothing else, thats why you need white players. They are generally better shooters. Not because they are more talented, because they need to find other ways to be successful.
I’m not emphasizing any particulate trait but taking a macro approach. I am saying historically a consistent trend of teams using more than three white players in their regular rotation have rarely succeeded,and the few times they did do well they were carried by a Butleresque superstar. The reasons why are far more complex, but obviously have a lot to do with athleticism, but not that alone.
Your post is complete, 100% nonsense
Going through a few teams you mentioned, Franz Wagner is ORL’s best player, his injury has completely turned the series. If ORL drafts Chet #1 in 2022 instead of Paolo they are a top defense now and EC contender.
Luka and Reaves are LAL’s #1 and #2. I remember plenty saying Reaves sucks early in his career and would be a good end of the bench guy because he’s white, turned out they were totally wrong making scouting opinions based on skin color.
Dean Wade is CLE’s best wing defender, he guards Ingram and Scottie.
BOS is facing game 7 vs PHI not because they have white players but because their entire team plays a methodical style with high variance, relying on threes. They had to dismantle their team last offseason because of the CBA and get rid of half their top rotation, Holiday, Horford, Porzingis.
CLE is on the brink vs TOR not because of Dean Wade, Max Strus, Sam Merrill but because the entire team lacks physicality and is being outplayed, and Scottie is the best player in the series.
It’s really sad to even talk about the assumptions you’re so sure of because it’s racism pure and simple. Color does not determine at all who can and who can’t play, and if you make assumptions based on that they’re going to be wrong.
I said just what you said about Wagner and that series. Read what I wrote again if you like. I actually didn’t say that about Cleveland (but I thought it). It’s actually close with Poetl, who I think is an A-, pretty good player and the Russian sub with a name too long to remember. And Cleveland uses just three, Strus, Wade (unfortunately named), and the three point specialist Merrill. I got no problem with their setup.
We just can’t have five or six white guys amongst our top ten players. We need at least one less if not two less in our regular rotation. Call it a quota if you wish, but it is also an axiomatic truth proven empirically over fifty years. I stand by the comment.
Multiple comment
This kid played great. Far surpassed my initial expectations.
the kid played great what heat drug u on
Not pot I can spot a pothead a mile away. H4l for example, I can tell he’s a stoner. Dude’s been hittin the same bong since 1972.
Atlanta collapses, and Philly tied. I m not sure what to prefer, Celtics or Philly advances. Maybe Celts should be be out in first round, Philly in second. And NY in east finals.
who to prefer btw
Orlando or Detroit wins the east.
prob det wins game 7
Kas had a good year, but somehow he is not as attractive player as Gardner or Johnson for example in this team were, despite that he played better then both.
If the comparison is Dragic, he is much better player then him at his age. But Dragic was faster and much stronger then Kas, he could penetrate, Kas couldnt.
Anyway, he needs to:
-become stronger.
-improve his first step.
-improve his finishing.
-improve playmaking.
If he can be successful with that this summer, we have our starting point guard for the future.
I agree. He has a positive upside and works hard. Another gym rat. I think he will overcome his limitations over time. He has time to develop; he’s only 19.
Anyway, a very good draft, despite everything what had been said here.
when
Two or three years from now, somebody will notice, that he should be top 10 draft.
played better than both the others hardly played.kj too athletic gard to rough .not to make it a racial decision id take the other two over kasper.just like dawgs kas is a 60s generation type player.poor mans jon havlicek
Unbelievable. Wolves oust Nuggs w/out Ant.
Without Ant, DiVincenzo and Dosunmu. On the other hand Gordon is too important for Denver, I am not surprised that they lost playing without him.
okc will kill lebron with or w/o luka or houston with or w/o kd
minn spurs im def taking minn.i hate the cheating spurs
Let’s go Spurs!!!!
Go Spurs! 😁😄😆
go heat could give a f about who wins.heat fan first heat fan second heat fan third.go nba for great playoffs is what im rooting for.hope every series goes 7
heat for life
12 hours ago
minn spurs im def taking minn.
best player in world going fishing tomorrow
Best player? Retired already! And MJ always goes fishing on his yacht 😂
debateable just like who is worse defensively dunc or tyler
only bad thing bout minn winning alex steroid rodriguez part owner
the muscularity of the african american athlete versus vanillas.im a 69 year old white man just the way it is.i played ball with bros back in the day they jump and run at a diff level than young hfl and my friends
That isn’t the only thing you need to be a really good basketball player. I’ve listed Black players who sucked over the years. More athletic? In general, no argument here,
I did too. I thought I was good and when I was in college at Emory one time my friend and I went to an area park where it was all black and we got in some pick-up games. One guy swatted my shot so thoroughly I realized I was dealing with a whole other level. That’s a true story from my life.
me to first time i hooped with bros i said whoa wow i better study and become an acocuntant bball not in hfls future as a job
Amen, I said I better get some kind of degree on the wall.
would pelle jjj play at all on minn dont think so
They would both definitely at least be in the rotation. Unless you think Kyle Anderson, Bones Hyland, and Terrance Shannon are better, lol. They’re not.
slo mo hyland plauying cause of all injuries.shannon looked great tonight what sppeed mcdaniels dosomu are the backups better than jjj pelle
Shannon was impressive. Our guys would still be in the rotation.
No they wouldn’t only here are they propped up to be more then what they are. Lmao
Average players and guess what happens when your a team full of them. Playin in 8-10 seed year after year
Did someone recently say Denver could go to the WCF? I’m glad they’re out.
They lack depth. They rely too much on Jokic, Gordon and Murray. At full strenght they can beat anyone.
brendan malone fired and he won a chip why did that happen .what has spobot done lately no worries family biz everybodys making $$
murray to many injuries he has been bad tonight.single handedly cost them the game.athletes ruled in this game mcdaniels shannon to athletic to handle,naz for tyler u think tylers a better player than naz stat crack man lol
The results all around the league have been very much in alignment with our beliefs. If Philly beats Boston in game seven, I will have a few things to say as it pertains to the Heat and this article and everything happening with this team over the last five years. I will only say now….How does it come to this? How did we stray so far?
tatum and brown are top 10 players if one is slightly off phily should win.hauser pp vukevic garza .i like pp he can play on almost any team as a backup .hes built like a pit bull tough as sht gets rebounds and can shoot it
I said mid season the Celtics would rue trading Simons for Vucevic. It put them over the paradyne shift edge.
had to be a mickey arison salary cap casualty.30 vuc was borderline all star with magic.now borderline playable
luckily minn doent have bam at center theyd get killed
murray with a john starks type game versus houston in finals.
rudys always been a dirty player
doris burke will u please stfu your ruining a great game stfu stfu u dont stop talking so much
Cannot stand Doris Burke telling me what I just saw. My mute button is a lifesaver.
with the 13th pick in the 2026 draft the vanilla fudge select alex caraban drummer out of u of connecticuit.alex has been compared to john bonham keith moon.
If that happens, I’m not going to get upset, but I will find another team until Pat is gone.
i cant root for another team thats not in my dna .but drafting another vanilla will have me very pissed.
This is such bullshit by both of you. If the best available player when we pick is Karim Lopez, Aday Mara, or Hannes Steinbach, you want the team to pass because they’re not Black?
to be honest yes i want athletic players sorry vanilla fudge doesnt need any more band members.gimme athletes to bad homer i want athletes homer
Dumb, you want to take a worse player than a better player? You don’t know shit about any of the prospects, whether they’re athletic or not. Who recently was gushing about Avdija? Maybe you didn’t notice he’s White? Dumb.
Exactly. Kaspar “fell” thirteen spots because some GM’s aren’t stupid.
As is often the case, there were players chosen both before and after Kas who are not as good.
It wasn’t Kas, it was the make up of the team already going into the draft. I love Pelle and I’m so glad we drafted him in the second. But Kas was a first rounder. The pick was and remains a low percentage move especially in light of the cast of characters we already had. I would have gone a different route even though picking twentieth is a crapshoot, no doubt.
With all due respect, you are the one who is full of it with your egalitarian posings in what should be a meritocracy based solely on ability. The results scream out to you game after game in these playoffs and you just refuse to see. Riley has built an utterly un winnable team, and anyone who can’t see it is sucking on the Heat crack that a windbag spews. That press conference was delusional, crazy town stuff. Riley shouldn’t be running a consignment store anymore, much less being the Heat GM. How can anyone take what he says seriously or believe in him after that presser. He made Pete Hegseth sound venerable and erudite.
I have said time and again that it is the quality of the players, not the color. Tell me how that approach is wrong. I have seen some good play by White as well as Black as well as Brown players this postseason. If you do research NOW to see the players projected to go in the 11-16 range, understanding that we will probably pick one of those 6 players, and you tell me you would choose a lesser rated Black player over a better rated White player, yes, I take exception to that. Some believe Jokic is the best player in the league, or close to it. There’s been very positive comments on Avdija. The 2 top rookies in the league this season were Flagg and Kneuppel. I hope the Heat choose the best player available, especially if it fills a need like pf, backup center, or even sf. If it makes you feel any better, most are projecting we get Landeborg, Peat, or Philon, all in the hue you prefer. But some indicate it could be Lopez or Steinbach. Regardless of who they pick, I am not leaving or changing allegiance. I’m a Heat fan.
The terrible answer, and I’ll say it again only because as unpleasant a truth as it is, it’s still true. It’s not the individual player. I’ve been consistent in saying that. You are absolutely right in everything you say about individual players. It’s somewhere in the aggregate. I tried to quantify it but that can’t really be defined. I tried to explain it in terms of collective responsibility but even that’s hard to put a finger on. It’s just something that is learned in usage, knowledge gained empirically.
Maybe it’s not the way some wish it was, but that isn’t for me or anyone else to decide on. It is what it is. And the Heat are negatively impacted by it or I wouldn’t discuss it ever. .
I’ll see myself out now.
edmonton looks like there going to be eliminated.do u think mcdavid could do a lebron and come to so beach
It’s at least in part because McDavid is not a great leader. He’s self centered, and will turn on his teammates. I like our Panthers as they are. As long as they’re healthy, they have as good a chance as anyone. It’s nice to be able to say about a team I root for that we don’t need more.
Kas definitely has some things to overcome. Not being able to finish is penalized more highly in the nba than in the rest of life. Perhaps, and I am only saying perhaps, the reason this guy fell to number 20 was other GM’s might have just had a little more on the ball than the blowhard who currently hangs on to his job at every Heat fans peril. In fairness, Kaspar has a wonderful three ball, is a good passer and looks to not be targetable. So it is hard to predict how valuable he may become. I will say it’s hard to envision him ending up as a starting pg in this league even when he is fully grown up. I do feel much more certain of my prediction that Pat will be proven again this year to be well past his prime.
to big and slow for pg. prob a 2g but cant get to rim so better be able to shoot it 30.
Ridiculous. Being a 6’5” pg can be an advantage as you can see over smaller pg to pass or shoot. Foot speed, maybe, but he has looked decent defensively.
need diff makers just not meh players.ok hes a rotation player u happy
Yes, because you need rotation players too.
every team has rotation players the good teams have diff makers.
Yup, and every team needs rotation players. As you yourself said, you have to draft, develop, or trade for a difference maker. They don’t grow on trees and the league is cyclical.
diff makers drafted dwade
diff makers acquired goat bosh jimmy zo timmy shaq ray
in the history of our org one diff maker via draft.its hard to get one i know greek and kawhi are both diff makers only have short life but ill take any years with real diff makers.
pats almost got his vanilla fudge band put together still need a drummer