The story at the start of the season was of a Miami Heat big man taking his game to the 3-point arc, spacing the floor, forcing opposing defenses to adjust.

The story at the moment is the same.

Only it’s not — because the spacing big man hasn’t been Bam Adebayo, but rather Kel’el Ware.

And the degree of efficiency has been hard to ignore.

Entering Thursday’s play, the 7-foot Ware not only was leading all NBA centers in 3-point percentage (among those with the minimum required qualifying attempts), but stood fourth overall among all players.

As in .473.

As in better than Nikola Jokic, Brook Lopez, Karl-Anthony Towns among centers. As in well ahead of fellow Heat big man Bam Adebayo, who entered Thursday 158th among all players and 11th among centers in 3-point percentage, at .318. As in 79 percentage points better than 3-point icon Stephen Curry.

So who saw this coming?

“I would say I did,” Ware said, before turning his attention to Thursday night’s game against the Detroit Pistons at Little Caesars Arena. “I work on my shot. I have faith in my shot, enough to let it go and trust that it’s going to go in.”

Last season, Ware drained 35 3-pointers as a rookie, on .315 from beyond the arc. As a collegian, Ware made a combined 32 3-pointers in his two seasons. But after shooting .273 from beyond the arc as a freshman at Oregon, he was up to .425 as a sophomore at Indiana.

All the while, there was a comfort from the arc dating to his prep days.

“I had a coach growing up that wasn’t like that,” Ware said of big men being planted solely in the post. “He would always let me play around the perimeter. He didn’t limit me to one role, one spot.”

While Heat coach Erik Spoelstra hasn’t limited him, either, there is an understanding of where Ware’s primary residence should be.

“I feel like I’ve got a feel now,” Ware said of his middle ground with Spoelstra. “I’m mostly in the paint most of the game, so I feel like it’s not really that much of a big deal when I’m out, as long as we’re not five out or anything like that, as long as somebody is under there while I’m out.”

For the most part, Spoelstra has attempted to avoid giving too much legs to the notion of Ware as 3-point shooter.

“I want to be open to the development of our young players,” Spoelstra said. “Like I said, in training camp, there’s an element of unknown. But I want there to be some surprises. I want guys to improve. I want them to gain confidence as the season goes on. Young players, it doesn’t happen for every single one of them at the exact same time. And it doesn’t happen as linear growth. So I want to be open to that growth.

“He spent a lot of time on his shooting. I don’t want to overcoach that, because he has great touch. Because of how we do things, he’ll be out there (at the 3-point line). And sometimes he’ll be inside. I want him to be efficient in both areas. But I do want him to have confidence. His game is improving and he’s finding more ways to impact winning.”

For now, Spoelstra won’t go as far as to detail whether there are 3-point sets in place or being installed for Ware.

“I’m not going to over-talk it. I’m not. Because how does it help us to walk through every step of our offense to you guys,” Spoelstra said during a post-practice media session. “The general part of it is I want him to gain confidence. We’re coaching him hard in the details.”

With a seeming appreciation from Ware of the when and the where.

“I pick and choose when I want to go out there,” Ware said. “Normally, I’m in the paint more of the game. But whenever I pop out, I feel like I’m warm enough to hit a three.

“I’ve been putting in work, and I feel like I’m comfortable in my shot and being able to shoot.”