Heat sign first-round pick to his rookie contract

The Miami Heat have signed 2025 first round draft pick Kasparas Jakucionis to his rookie scale deal, per Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel.

The former Illinois guard, selected with the No. 20 pick, will earn $3,658,800 in 2025-26, and $17.7M over the course of his first four pro seasons in the league.

The 19-year-old out of Lithuania began his career playing for his native Perlas Vilnius in 2020-21, before suiting up for FC Barcelona of the EuroLeague and Spanish ACB league (Liga ACB) from 2022-24. During his one year at Illinois, Jakucionis was named to the All-Big Ten Third Team.

Across 33 contests for the Illini in 2024-25, the 6-foot-6 wing averaged 15.0 PPG, 5.7 RPG and 4.7 APG. He posted shooting splits of .440/.318/.845.

Jakucionis was Miami’s only draft pick last week. Last year’s Heat finished with a middling 37-45 record and the No. 10 seed in the Eastern Conference, but survived both their Play-In Tournament games to advance to the playoffs proper. Miami was quickly swept by Cleveland in the first round.