Heat’s Erik Spoelstra Dives Into First-Round Pick’s Demotion

The Miami Heat’s season will go down as one of the most tenuous in franchise history. The falling out between Jimmy Butler and Heat president Pat Riley became so toxic that people should’ve been walking around the team in hazmat suits. In the end, Butler and the Heat had a bitter divorce, one of the top performers in franchise history traded to the NBA’s most recent dynasty team.

However, in the backdrop were uncharacteristic performances from many of Butler’s teammates. On the plus side, Tyler Herro and Nikola Jovic had career seasons. Herro was especially good, averaging 23.9 points per game and making his first All-Star appearance.

It was a different story for Bam Adebayo, Jaime Jaquez Jr., and Terry Rozier.

Heat’s Erik Spoelstra Dives Into Jaime Jaquez Jr.’s Demotion

Adebayo remains a versatile player and defensive force but seemed to lose his touch. Though he averaged 18.1 points per game, he shot a career-low 48.5 percent from the field, a low number for a big man. He also failed to earn an All-Star selection for the first time since 2021-22.

Rozier has held different reputations for different teams. With the Boston Celtics, he was an aggressive defender with easily recognizable offensive skills. With the Charlotte Hornets, he was primarily seen as a volume scorer. His time with the Heat has seen him become regarded as one of the most overrated players in the league.

Jaquez’s situation was different though. A first-round pick in the 2023 NBA Draft, the 6-foot-6 forward is just getting his feet wet. However, he looked pretty promising as a rookie, even coming in fourth-place in the Rookie of the Year race. Taken under Butler’s wing, there were relatively high expectations for the him.

Maybe the California kid had just crashed into the sophomore wall. For him to be taken out of the rotation completely was unfathomable. Nonetheless, it happened repeatedly.

After playing at least 10 minutes in every game of his rookie season, he played fewer than 10 minutes in eight games this season. In the 2024 NBA Playoffs, he played 30.8 minutes per game. In the 2025 NBA Playoffs, he was glued to the bench, playing 19 total minutes across three games.

Bad Luck, Bad Timing

On Wednesday, Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra explained what went wrong for Jaquez this season.

“He’ll work on everything,” Spoelstra begins. “He had a really good summer last summer, but then he sprained his ankle right before training camp. These are not excuses, but it led to some of the inconsistency…”

“The first time I thought he started to play well (was) after the Mexico City game and that led to four of his stomach issues and sometimes you just can’t control that. But that was three or four instances where he was taken out of the lineup and then three sprained ankles. So every time he started to get rhythm, one of those events would happen and then his ramp-up coming back, the team would change.