Heat Notes: Jovic, Jakucionis, Rozier, Ware, Dragic, More

The contract is not yet official, but Heat forward Nikola Jovic couldn’t contain his excitement regarding his new four-year, $62.4MM rookie scale extension after Thursday’s practice, writes Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald.

“I feel good,” Jovic said. “I feel good. I’m blessed and everything. Still talking to my agent, you know, progress is being made. Haven’t signed anything officially, but hopefully we’ll get there soon. I’m happy that this ownership and organization sees the talent and sees the work I put in. And I’ll make sure to give my everything to make this contract worth a lot more.”

“It just shows they respect me and they want me here,” Jovic added, per Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel. “So I got a little extra boost knowing that I can show what I can do. As simple as that. I’m still going to do my thing and try to be the best player as possible.”

Jovic, a 22-year-old from Serbia, was selected No. 27 overall in the 2022 draft. He says he appreciated key members of the team coming to visit him this summer as he prepared for EuroBasket 2025, Chiang notes.

“I felt like last year before I got injured, I really felt like I can help this team win,” Jovic said. “From there, even after the injury, I felt like they knew what I bring. They know what I can bring to the table and how I can help this team win. And [Heat coach Erik Spoelstra and assistant general manager Adam Simon] coming to Serbia [this past summer] and seeing me and meeting my family and everything, I felt really like a part of the family.”

Here’s more on the Heat:

• 2025 first-round pick Kasparas Jakucionis was sidelined during Thursday’s practice due to a left wrist sprain, Chiang adds. X-Rays on the wrist were negative. The Heat believe the Lithuanian guard won’t be sidelined for very long, according to Chiang.
• Veteran guard Terry Rozier was another player who was held out Thursday. He suffered a left hamstring strain on Tuesday but expects to be back next week, tweets Winderman. Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press has also heard the injury isn’t expected to be serious (Twitter link).
• Miami has high expectations for Kel’el Ware and the team has been pushing him hard in his second training camp, according to Chiang. Spoelstra, who was critical of Ware at the start of Summer League, has said the the 21-year-old won’t be handed a starting job but he enjoys working with the second-year center. “Despite what people think my tenor is with him or whatever, I really enjoy coaching Kel’el,” Spoelstra said. “He’s a young player, and he’s learning our standards and learning the head coach’s standards of approaching every single day to strive for excellence and not accept anything less than that. And then you stack a bunch of days up like that, then eventually as a young player you start to learn how, oh, that impacts winning. Is he there yet? No. Does he show signs of that? Yes. Because he does really care. He cares about it. He’s learning it, and that’s OK for a young player.”
• Former Heat guard Goran Dragic is expected to rejoin the organization in a formal capacity at some point in the future, Chiang writes in a third story. Dragic’s specific role has yet to be determined — he was working with Jakucionis during Tuesday’s practice before flying home to Europe on Wednesday. “I just like having him around,” Spoelstra said. “He’s not just exclusively working with Kas. He has great experience. Everybody respects him. He has a great way of communicating to guys. I think he just naturally fits a mentorship role. But he can also add value to scouting and other areas. I think we’ll be able to make, hopefully, something work for both sides.”
• The Heat will have virtually no cap space next summer if Andrew Wiggins exercises his $30.2MM player option for 2026/27, tweets Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. Jovic’s impending extension didn’t impact the books much since his cap hold would have been similar to the first year of his new deal, which starts in 2026.