Kasparas Jakucionis Impresses in Heat Debut vs. Spurs

Jakucionis's playmaking abilities shouldn't come as a surprise. At Illinois, he averaged 15 points and 4.7 assists per game, being the main generator of offense for the Fighting Illini. In NBA Summer League, he averaged 15 points and 3.7 assists across three games.

Last night, Jakucionis had three turnovers, but he still put up a box plus-minus of +16. His best assists came on the fastbreak or finding cutters at the rim. He wasn't an aggressive scorer, shooting 2-for-7 from the field and 1-for-5 from three, but he still generated plenty of buckets for the Heat.

Defense had been a bit of a concern by scouts leading up to the draft, but that certainly wasn't an issue against the Spurs.

The Heat are in desperate need of a true point guard, and Jakucionis could be just that. With Tyler Herro out for the start of the season due to a foot injury, Davion Mitchell is the projected point guard. He is an elite defender, but Jakucionis could step up in big moments as a playmaker, especially with Miami reportedly looking to move on from Terry Rozier.

The Heat are certainly trying to get younger with players like Jakucionis, Nikola Jovic and Kel'el Ware projected to have prominent roles either in the starting lineup or off the bench.

Teams will likely be monitoring Herro and Bam Adebayo's situations as trade rumors have remained consistent over the last few seasons. With Miami slowly getting younger and falling behind in playoff contention, the team could be destined for a rebuild, and Jakucionis would be a huge part of that. Last night, he showed what he can do with the ball in his hands.