Kel’el Ware reflects on Miami Heat, trade to Milwaukee Bucks

LAS VEGAS — By the time the machinations were over and the trade that sent him from the Milwaukee Bucks to the Heat was done, it was clear that Giannis Antetokounmpo had gotten what he wanted with the career reset.

Less clear, but perhaps just as needed, was Kel’el Ware going in the other direction in the deal, afforded a reset with the Bucks after a pair of uneven, rocky seasons with the Heat.

“I mean, I kind of figured it was going to happen,” Ware said at Thomas & Mack Center as he watched the Bucks play at the Las Vegas NBA Summer League. “So I was just preparing myself. I mean, it was everywhere, I mean, you kind of see, especially speaking with my agents and things like that. So you kind of get a gist of what’s going to happen.”

And then it happened, with Ware, Tyler Herro, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Kasparas Jakucionis and significant draft capital going out in the deal that brought back Antetokounmpo and Bobby Portis from the Bucks.

For Ware, these first two NBA seasons have been a roller coaster for more than the constant links to trade possibilities, including several times being mentioned during his first season in a possible Heat trade for Kevin Durant and then at February’s trade deadline linked to Atentokinmpo.

Also at play was a seeming lack of trust from Heat coach Erik Spoelstra when it came to role and playing time, often accompanied by tough-love criticism.

“Um, I feel like, you know, his decision was how he played me,” Ware said, without directly getting into his view on how he should have or could have been utilized.

In fact, it was a year ago, last July, when Spoelstra took the atypical approach of criticizing a returning player about summer-league play.

“There’s layers to this with Kel’el,” Spoelstra said in Las Vegas last July. “A big part of this is he has to really embrace and improve his professionalism, his consistency, his approach every single day. He has to get better with that. It’s learning how to become a pro.

“The talent is there. The professionalism and consistency has to improve and it is. Our standards are not going to change and our expectations and how fast we want that to improve for him are not going to change. But he has to get better at it, he has to take ownership of it.”

With the Heat, there was the constant urgency to win every moment, amid a desperate battle during Ware’s two seasons for playoff seeding, winding up in the play-in bracket both years, without a single playoff-game victory during his tenure.

Now with the Bucks, the pressure figures to lessen and the development perhaps to be heightened, on a team largely taking the long view with a roster loaded with young prospects, including getting No. 13 pick Nate Ament in last month’s draft from the Heat.

“Obviously where I’m at now, you know, it’s a young team,” Ware, 22, said. “I have more of a chance to flourish. So I’m excited for that.”

To a degree this could mean a renewal, after Spoelstra never seemed fully committed to playing Ware in a leading role alongside starting center Bam Adebayo, despite Adebayo voicing that as a preference.

“I mean, yeah, you know, a fresh start,” said the 7-footer selected out of Indiana by the Heat with the No. 15 pick in the 2024 NBA draft, “getting more minutes with that, being able to go out there just work on my game more, the game-situation things.”

With such a young Bucks roster, Ware also recognizes that he will be arriving as somewhat of a veteran.