Erik Spoelstra conceded amid controversy over Kel’el Ware’s minutes

MIAMI – Despite that The Miami Heat are missing newly announced All-Star Norman Powellteam came out on Sunday night and dominated the Chicago Bulls with a 43 point victory, 134-91. As rumors surround the Heat before the trade deadlineanother major story with the team surrounds the young center Kel’el Ware and head coach Erik Spoelstra.

Sunday’s 43-point win, which tied for the largest margin of victory in Miami history, followed Saturday’s disappointing loss, which saw Ware play three minutes the entire game. Sunday was a different story as Ware recorded 17 points on 8-of-15 shooting from the field, along with six rebounds and a +25 from the floor.

Ware has become a recurring question asked of Spoelstra in postgame press conferences regarding his usage, and the head coach brought it up this time without any caveats. He would talk about “really solid minutes” he had, areas he can build on, and Vare because of a hamstring injury that caused him to miss four games on the last road trip.

“Because some of you are probably going to ask about Kel’el,” Spoelstra said. “Kel’el gave us some really solid minutes tonight. I was encouraged by his defensive activity. He’s also part of that young team. And offensively, he moved the ball when he needed to and gave us vertical spacing when he needed to. He hit the 3 when he needed to. So I think those are things we can build on.”

“It’s been a little bit of a rough 10 days, two weeks, since the injury, and then he got him back into this,” Spoelstra continued. “But it’s good to have him get extended minutes.”

Erik Spoelstra will talk about Kel’el Ware’s positive minutes tonight:

“Since some of you are going to ask about Kel’el, he gave us some really solid minutes tonight, I was encouraged by his defensive activity. It’s good that he got some extended minutes . . .” #HeatNation

Full answer: pic.twitter.com/aSR0F6GJ1G

— Zachary Weinberger (@ZachWeinberger) February 2, 2026

Heat’s Erik Spoelstra on the need to coach young players better

With Heat star in Ware selected for 2026 Rising Stars gamethere’s no denying that his playing time has been under the microscope all season with Spoelstra’s coaching. For Sunday, it could be said that Ware always needed more minutes, especially with Nikola Jovic out with a hip impingement, and how empty Sunday’s game was, with the starting center Bam Adebayo it is played for 22 minutes.

However, Spoelstra would also speak not only to Vera, but also to the rest of the young players on the team, which, compared to other years, there are more this time. He would note that the entire team wants to do better, “And that includes the head coach.”

“I’ve got to do a better job with this group,” Spoelstra said. “We’ve got the potential that we can see. We’ve got the explosiveness. We’ve got the defense. And it’s a matter of consistency. And that’s why I’m here, to be able to help with that along with the veterans, to help our consistency.”

“But also to hold the young guys accountable,” Spoelstra continued. “And we have more of them than we’ve had in recent history. But also develop them and instill confidence in them. And that’s a good balance, but, again, that’s why I’m here and I want to take on that challenge, and I want to get better at it in these last 30 games.”

In addition to Ware, Spoelstra is tasked with coaching a group of young talents such as Jovic, Jaime Jakuez Jr., Pelle Larsson, Kasparas Jakucionis, Miron Garder and others. Miami looks to be better overall with a 27-24 record that puts them in eighth place in the East as their next game is Wednesday against the Atlanta Hawks.