{"id":156280,"date":"2026-02-15T11:29:06","date_gmt":"2026-02-15T11:29:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/156280\/"},"modified":"2026-02-15T11:29:06","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T11:29:06","slug":"what-next-for-kelel-ware-in-miami-heat-starting-lineup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/156280\/","title":{"rendered":"What next for Kel&#8217;el Ware in Miami Heat starting lineup?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Q: If everyone is healthy, will\u00a0 Kel\u2019el Ware start when the Heat get back to playing? \u2013 Steve.<\/p>\n<p>A: Everyone healthy? At this point, that still seems like an abstract. But, OK, I\u2019ll bite. I\u2019d likely lean toward not, simply because when the Heat have been closer to whole in the weeks before the All-Star break, the choices to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sun-sentinel.com\/2026\/02\/12\/heats-spoelstra-ware-back-on-same-page-after-infamous-postgame-quote\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">start ahead of Kel\u2019el Ware<\/a>\u00a0 have been Pelle Larsson, Andrew Wiggins and Davion Mitchell. So if you\u2019re talking about having Bam Adebayo, Tyler Herro, Norman Powell, Davion Mitchell and Andrew Wiggins, I\u2019m not sure that Kel\u2019el would slip in as an alternative fifth factor, considering that five doesn\u2019t also include Pelle Larsson. Then again, we still don\u2019t know where things stand with Tyler.<\/p>\n<p>Q: Ira, thoughts on Norman Powell missing two games and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sun-sentinel.com\/2026\/02\/14\/ira-winderman-amid-norman-powells-all-star-breakthrough-are-heat-playing-for-keeps\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">then going to All-Star<\/a> Weekend? \u2013 Dell.<\/p>\n<p>A: Considering all the games that Norman Powell was listed on the Heat injury report and then played through, he assuredly has earned any benefit of the doubt. He only lasted one round in Saturday\u2019s 3-point contest and it\u2019s not as if he is going to be overworked during the All-Star competition. As long as he is good to go on Friday in Atlanta, no issue here.<\/p>\n<p>Q: Ira, while we\u2019re on the topic of contracts, are we taken care of with Pelle Larsson? Suddenly, he\u2019s one of our most valuable players. \u2013 Len.<\/p>\n<p>A: This is one of the advantages of having second-round picks, is being able to seize long-term control with minimum risk at the outset. With Pelle Larsson it meant a three-year deal when signed after going in the 2024 second round out of Arizona that includes next season as a team option, then to become a restricted free agent in the 2027 offseason if not extended. So amid all the uncertainty with potential extensions of Tyler Herro and Norman Powell, the Heat are at least converted with Pelle.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Q: If everyone is healthy, will\u00a0 Kel\u2019el Ware start when the Heat get back to playing? \u2013 Steve.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":122851,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[17325,114,123,125,2490,16151,124,2295,110],"class_list":{"0":"post-156280","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-miami","8":"tag-ask-ira","9":"tag-latest-headlines","10":"tag-miami","11":"tag-miami-headlines","12":"tag-miami-heat","13":"tag-miami-heat-blog","14":"tag-miami-news","15":"tag-nba","16":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=156280"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156280\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/122851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=156280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=156280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=156280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}