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Two-way contract player Vlad Goldin steps up to help Heat finish summer league with win over Bucks
With Kasparas Jakucionis, Keshad Johnson, Pelle Larsson and Kel'el Ware held out on Friday, the Heat finished summer league with a 93-92 win over the Milwaukee Bucks at the Pavilion on UNLV's campus in Las Vegas in a competitive game that included 25 lead changes and 13 ties.
After going 6-0 in Las Vegas on the way to claiming last year's summer league championship, the Heat couldn't repeat as champions and posted a overall summer league record of 4-4 this year — 2-1 at the California Classic and 2-3 at Las Vegas Summer League.
Jakucionis, Johnson, Larsson and Ware are the only four players on the Heat's summer league roster who are signed by the Heat to standard contracts for this upcoming seson. Johnson, Larsson and Ware each played in five of the Heat's eight summer league games and Jakucionis played in six of the Heat's eight summer league contests.
It marked Johnson, Larsson and Ware's second summer league after helping the Heat win the Las Vegas Summer League title last year.
But this marked Jakucionis' first summer league after being selected by Miami with the 20th pick in the first round of last month's draft. The 19-year-old Jakucionis averaged 9.5 points, 2.8 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 3.7 turnovers per game while shooting 14 of 44 (31.8 percent) from the field and 6 of 28 (21.4 percent) from three-point range in in six appearances during his uneven summer league showing.
Without Jakucionis, Johnson, Larsson and Ware, the Heat closed summer league with a starting lineup of Vlad Goldin, Erik Stevenson, Kira Lewis Jr., Myron Gardner and JC Butler.
Goldin, who is signed by the Heat to a two-way contract, is the only player currently on an NBA deal who played for the Heat's summer team on Friday. He took advantage of the opportunity, turning in his best performance of this year's summer league with 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field and 4-of-4 shooting from the foul line, 10 rebounds and four blocks in 22 minutes.
Goldin helped the Heat escape the back-and-forth affair with a victory, scoring 10 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter.
Among those currently free agents and looking for their next basketball stop who stepped up for the Heat on Friday were Stevenson, Javonte Cooke and Gardner.
Stevenson, who went undrafted in 2023 and has spent the last two seasons in the G League, finished with 14 points on 4-of-14 shooting from the field and 4-of-10 shooting on threes, three rebounds, five assists and one block in 18 minutes before exiting Friday's contest early in the second half because of a finger injury.
Cooke, who went undrafted in 2022 and has spent the last three seasons in the G League, recorded 14 points on 5-of-10 shooting from the field, 0-of-4 shooting on threes and 4-of-4 shooting from the foul line, three rebounds, six assists, two steals and one block in 27 minutes.
Gardner, who went undrafted in 2023 and has spent the last two seasons in the G League, totaled 16 points on 4-of-14 shooting from the field, 2-of-4 shooting on threes and 6-of-6 shooting from the foul line, six rebounds, two assists, four steals and one block in 26 minutes.
The Heat has one open spot on its 15-man standard roster and two open two-way contract slots, but has held off on filling those openings up to this point. With the Heat already above the luxury tax threshold, Miami is more likely to use a two-way deal that doesn't count toward the salary cap, luxury tax or aprons to add a developmental player who impressed in summer league.
Next up for the Heat is some downtime before things ramp up ahead of this upcoming season. The Heat is scheduled to hold its annual media day on Sept. 29 before opening training camp on Sept. 30 to kick off the 2025-26 season.
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