The Miami Heat had just one pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, and it was the No. 20 overall selection in the opening round. With that pick, Miami selected former University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign star Kasparas Jakucionis.

Jakucionis had plenty of ups and downs across six Summer League games played with the Heat, including an especially rough start to his stint, but he ultimately flashed a unique skill set.

He’s not exactly one of the biggest names in a draft class that is replete with talented and promising prospects, but he could still  crack one of the All-Rookie teams and be one of the better first-year players in the league in the coming 2025-26 season.

Let’s break down three reasons as to why the Lithuanian is a dark horse All-Rookie candidate.

1. Heat have had impactful rookies in back-to-back seasons

The Heat are hoping that Jakucionis will continue their streak of players selected in the opening round of the draft who have gone on to have productive maiden seasons. Miami hit on its last two first-round picks before Jakucionis, as forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. and big man Kel’el Ware both were impactful rookies.

First, Miami drafted Jaquez in the opening round of the 2023 NBA Draft, and he ended up with the fourth-most votes for the Rookie of the Year award in the 2023-24 season. He averaged 11.9 points per game in his first NBA season and ended up on the All-Rookie First Team as well.

More recently, Miami used the first non-lottery pick of the 2024 NBA Draft on Kel’el Ware, who averaged 9.3 points and 7.4 rebounds per game in the 2024-25 season and earned a spot on the All-Rookie Second Team. It took some time for Ware to establish himself as a fixture in Erik Spoelstra’s rotation in his rookie campaign, but he has enticing two-way potential.

2. Stuffed the stat sheet in college

During his one season at the collegiate level, Jakucionis showed a real flair for contributing all along the stat sheet. He averaged 15.0 points, 5.7 rebounds and 4.7 assists with the Fighting Illini and made his presence felt in several facets of the game.

That all-around impact that Jakucionis has proven he’s capable of providing could make him stand out in his rookie class. It’s unusual for first-year players to be able to stuff the stat sheet out of the gate, as plenty of prospects can be one-dimensional when first entering the league.

At just 19 years old, Jakucionis doesn’t have a ton of weaknesses in his game, at least compared to his peers. His outside shot is still a work in progress, and he didn’t exactly give fans hope that he will be a dependable 3-point shooter based on how he shot in Summer League. But he’s demonstrated that he doesn’t need a capable 3-point shot to make his mark as a scorer.

3. Strong intangibles could earn him spot in rotation

Jakucionis wasn’t all that effective as a scorer or passer in Summer League. After all, he ended his stint in Summer League with more turnovers than assists and averaged just 9.5 points per game.

Still, he reflected positively on his experience playing for the Heat this summer ahead of his rookie campaign.

“I’m happy to have this experience,” Jakucionis said. “I think we learned a lot as a team. Also for me individually, I think I learned a lot and just gaining experience every time is good. So I’m just trying to take it all in from coaches, from players who have been here. I’m just trying to listen and trying to take as much information as I can.”

Plus, the way he played indicated that he didn’t let his shooting struggles negatively impact other parts of the game. He drew plenty of fouls and made all but two of his 25 free-throw attempts in Summer League. Not only that, but Spoelstra said he was impressed with Jakucionis’ intangibles and noted that through all of his offensive struggles, he still managed to be effective by playing defense and making hustle plays.

“That was a good teaching point for him and we were all encouraged by the mental makeup he had,” Spoelstra said. “Look, it was uneven offensively — there’s no doubt about it. He had a lot of turnovers, some mistakes. All the intangibles — the defense, the hustle plays, the passing, all of that he was able to do while having some uneven offensive play.”

Jakucionis seems to have the right approach when he steps in between the lines, as he stressed that it’s important to give maximum effort at all times regardless of whether his shot is falling or not.

“Basketball is not all about shots,” Jakucionis said of his approach. “One day it can fall in and the other day it won’t fall in, but you still have to stick with the process and do everything you can on the floor and just give 100 percent.”

Hopefully, with Miami’s strong recent history of drafting productive players in the first round, Jakucionis’ all-around style of play and his intangibles, he will soon have a standout rookie season and land on one of the All-Rookie teams.