Did the Miami Heat Bench former Illini Kasparas Jakucionis in NBA Summer League?

To answer the question: well, yes, you could. Sure, everyone wants to win in the summer league, but that’s not the overarching goal. The point of mid-July contests is to get reps for the recently drafted rookies and second-year pros – specifically the players that an organization sees playing an important role in their team’s future. Being the Heat’s top overall pick of the 2025 draft, it’s safe to say Jakucionis falls firmly into that category. 

That said, Jakucionis was not benched for poor play. Who knows whether it was to prevent injury, not aggravate a slight one that has already been sustained, or any other random, perfectly normal explanation. And before anyone asks “why wasn’t he listed on the injury report?”, here are two reasonable explanations: 1) The Heat are a Pat Riley-led organization – and therefore sneaky, although summer league antics seem a bit far even for Riley. 2) More likely, it’s the summer league. Few are concerned with the injury report.

Perhaps the Heat have already decided to shut down Jakucionis for the remainder of summer, which is fairly typical for first-round draft picks after a couple of outings. Up next is Miami's next summer league date on Thursday against the Detroit Pistons.

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