Summer League struggles raise alarm bells about Heat's pivot to a young core

The NBA Summer League is in full swing, and the Miami Heat are 1-1. Miami beat San Antonio in its first game before getting pummelled by the Los Angeles Lakers in its second game.

Normally, the Summer League isn't a time to make bold proclamations or to create a sense of panic, but given the youth movement that Miami has insisted upon, and given the players the Heat have prioritized, there is a seed of doubt that should be creeping into the Miami front office.

Miami Heat should have alarm bells going off

In Miami's win over San Antonio, it was Pelle Larsson and Erik Stevenson who led the way with 18 and 16 points, respectively. Larsson is trying to become a viable rotation option while Stevenson has been a career G-League player.

Kel'el Ware got 14 points, but it was off just 35% shooting, while Kasparas Jakučionis had just three points while also committing three turnovers.

In the blowout loss to LAL, Ware had just three rebounds while Jakučionis committed an alarming five turnovers to go with just four points.

So if you are keeping score at home, Jakučionis has more turnovers than he does points in the Summer League.

Great.

For the record, we liked the Jakučionis pick, but we did note at the time that turnovers were a concern and were probably the reason why he slipped from being a potential lottery pick to No. 20 in the draft.

However, there is concern in Miami that they have rolled out Jakučionis and Ware in the Summer League as part of their youth movement, and neither has looked dominant through two games.

Ware at least has the backdrop of a full NBA season, but if he is "the guy" that Miami wouldn't give away for Kevin Durant, then one would hope he would look like "the guy" instead of just "a guy."

Jakučionis, meanwhile, looks like he is trying way too hard to be a playmaker. While he is having to play with a bunch of G-League guys compared to getting to play with Tyler Herro, he has yet to make a three and has just three assists to go against those eight turnovers.

Again, if Miami were a veteran squad, then the Summer League would just be a footnote.

But Ware and Jakučionis might be starters for Miami by 2026, and they need to start looking like dominant forces in the Summer League to give hope that it will translate into the real league.