Five takeaways from the Miami Heat’s 126-118 loss to the Orlando Magic to open its six-game preseason schedule on Saturday night at Coliseo de Puerto Rico in San Juan:

Considering the Heat was missing five guards on Saturday, it was hard to get a true read on the Heat’s starting lineup and rotation for opening night. But Andrew Wiggins provided some encouraging moments.

The Heat was without guards Tyler Herro (left ankle surgery), Kasparas Jakucionis (sprained left wrist), Pelle Larsson (left quad contusion), Davion Mitchell (calf soreness) and Terry Rozier (strained left hamstring) in the preseason opener. All five players did not travel with the Heat to Puerto Rico for Saturday’s contest.

That left Norman Powell and Dru Smith as the only healthy and available guards on Miami’s standard roster.

That also had the Heat beginning Saturday’s game with a starting lineup of Jaime Jaquez Jr., Powell, Wiggins, Nikola Jovic and Bam Adebayo.

Midway through the first quarter, the Heat made a line change and pulled the entire starting lineup to substitute in Dru Smith, Simone Fontecchio, Ethan Thompson, Keshad Johnson and Kel’el Ware. In addition two-way contract forward Myron Gardner and Exhibit 10 contract guard Trevor Keels also played in the first half for the Heat.

The Heat then began the second half with a lineup of Jaquez, Fontecchio, Johnson, Gardner and Ware. Jaquez was the lone player who started Saturday’s game and also was on the court for the beginning of the second half.

The rest of the Heat’s starting lineup on Saturday did not play in the second half.

By the time the night was over, all 16 available Heat players logged minutes in the exhibition.

Wiggins, who is entering his first full season with the Heat after being traded to Miami midway through last season, stood out. He finished the preseason opener with 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting from the field, 2-of-2 shooting from three-point range and 1-of-2 shooting from the foul line, two assists and one steal in 12 minutes.

Adebayo contributed seven points, five rebounds and one assist in 13 minutes. But he went 0 of 5 from the field, scoring all of his points at the foul line on 7-of-8 shooting from there.

It’s worth noting that Smith was available and provided his usual energy on Saturday less than 10 months after suffering a torn Achilles tendon in December that cut his season short last season. Smith totaled seven points, one rebound, one steal and two blocks in 10 minutes to begin the preseason. While Saturday’s loss won’t count toward the Heat’s regular-season record, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra wasn’t thrilled that the Magic outscored the Heat 43-13 in second-chance points behind an eye-opening 22 offensive rebounds.

“We need to correct it and we’ll get to work on that,” Spoelstra said of the Heat’s rebounding issues against the Magic. “We have been working on that. Everybody was talking about it at halftime. So that’s what I want to see is the recognition and then correction of it. We weren’t able to make that change in the second half.”

The Heat entered halftime with a 61-50 lead, but was outscored 76-57 in the second half on the way to the loss.

“The first half in general, it felt like the game was on our terms,” Spoelstra said. “We just have to work on some things to make it more consistent.”

After closing last season as a Heat starter, Ware began this preseason in a reserve role.

The 21-year-old Ware was used off the bench on Saturday, finishing with 10 points on 4-of-10 shooting from the field, 1-of-2 shooting on threes and 1-of-2 shooting from the foul line, nine rebounds and one steal in 17 minutes.

Ware, who was taken by the Heat with the 15th overall pick in last year’s draft, entered for his first action of the night with 5:05 left in the first quarter after beginning the game on the bench.

This was notable, considering Ware started in 36 of his final 38 appearances last regular season. He also started all four games of the Heat’s first-round sweep out of the playoffs at the hands of the Cleveland Cavaliers last season.

Following his move into the Heat’s starting lineup, Ware averaged 10.7 points, 9.7 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 1.2 blocks per game while shooting 54.4% from the field and 21 of 76 (27.6%) on threes during his final 38 regular-season appearances last season. That midseason push was enough for Ware to earn a spot on the NBA All-Rookie Second Team.

The Heat outscored opponents by 4.6 points per 100 possessions in the 541 minutes that Adebayo and Ware played together last regular season.

But it appears that the Heat will at least give Jovic an opportunity to prove he deserves to start alongside Adebayo instead of Ware.

Jovic, 22, started the first eight games last regular season before being pulled from the Heat’s starting group because of poor results.

Fresh off signing his extension with the Heat, Jovic flashed his intriguing skill set in Saturday’s preseason opener.

Jovic closed the exhibition loss with 10 points on 3-of-6 shooting from the field, 1-of-3 shooting on threes and 3-of-3 shooting from the foul line, three rebounds, two assists and one block in 12 minutes. He made a three, showed off his passing skills and also led fastbreaks while showing off his well-rounded game Saturday.

This came just hours after Jovic signed his four-year, $62.4 million rookie-scale extension with the Heat on Friday night. The deal does not include a team or player option and is fully guaranteed.

“What can I say other than I’m super happy,” Jovic said of his new deal. “I’m blessed for everything this organization has done for me. I’m happy that it’s official and we can kind of move on and get ready for the season. I don’t want to talk a lot about it. I’m just happy and blessed and I’ll make sure I’ll make this stuff work.”

Jovic, who is due $4.4 million this season in the fourth and final year of his rookie deal, is now under contract with the Heat through the 2029-30 season. He’s the only Heat player currently under contract past the 2028-29 season.

“We’re really excited for Niko,” Spoelstra said when asked about Jovic’s extension. “It’s been a fun process to see his maturation and improvement, learning how to become a professional. We drafted him at such a young age and then you’re seeing him grow and mature right before your eyes. He’s earned this. He’s put in a great deal of work.

“Yes, he’s had some injuries that you can’t really control. But he’s been able to control all the other things and that’s been his work ethic, his approach, consistency. We’re excited to have him now with us in the future.”

Jovic, who was taken by the Heat with the 27th pick in the first round of the 2022 NBA Draft, is entering his fourth NBA season.

The skilled 6-foot-10 Jovic averaged career highs in points (10.7 per game), assists (2.8) and minutes (25.1) last regular season in his third NBA season.

Jovic is hoping to open this season as a Heat starter. On Saturday, he began the preseason as a Heat starter.

“I don’t feel like I’ll get that feeling until the checks start kicking in,” Jovic joked about his new contract.

It was just the preseason, but Powell made his first game appearance in a Heat uniform.

Powell, who was acquired by the Heat in a three-team trade this offseason, began the preseason with a stat line of five points on 2-of-6 shooting from the field and 1-of-3 shooting on threes in 14 minutes on Saturday.

Powell will be relied on to help lift a Heat offense that has finished with a bottom-10 offensive rating in each of the last three seasons.

Powell, 32, was among six NBA players who averaged at least 21 points per game while shooting better than 48% from the field and better than 40% from three-point range last regular season along with Nikola Jokic, Kevin Durant, Karl-Anthony Towns, Zach LaVine and Kawhi Leonard.

The Heat and the Magic will see each other again two more times in the next three weeks.

After opening the preseason against the Magic in Puerto Rico, the Heat’s fourth preseason game will also come against the Magic on Oct. 12 in Orlando.

Then the Heat’s regular-season opener will also be against the Magic on Oct. 22 in Orlando.

Before the Heat faces the Magic again in Orlando this preseason, the Heat returns to Miami to continue its six-game preseason schedule against the Milwaukee Bucks on Monday and San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday. The Heat’s schedule of six exhibitions is the NBA maximum.

“I feel the most important thing is for us to improve,” Jovic said of facing the Magic three times in October. “I don’t think we’re really looking at the opponent. Of course, it’s important because it’s on opening night. But at the same time, I feel like we got to get something out of this game more than getting concentrated on who we’re playing.”

Saturday marked Heat’s seventh exhibition game in Puerto Rico in franchise history. The Heat previously played exhibitions in Puerto Rico in 1993 (a win against the Denver Nuggets), two in 1994 (splitting a pair of matchups with the Atlanta Hawks), 2003 (a win against the Philadelphia 76ers), 2005 (a loss to the Memphis Grizzlies) and 2006 (a loss to the Detroit Pistons).

“We enjoy it,” Spoelstra said, with the Heat only arriving in Puerto Rico on Friday night after wrapping up training camp at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton. “We would have enjoyed it if there was another day here. We could have gotten here a day earlier, but we had training camp. But this kind of breaks up preseason and it is close enough to South Florida. Most of us have been here enough times. We love the island. We love the passion for the game.”

This story was originally published October 4, 2025 at 10:47 PM.