With the Miami Heat surrounded in rumors ahead of the upcoming season, there are many players on the team that could be on the verge of a breakout season, one being Pelle Larsson, the second-round pick from the 2024 NBA Draft. While fans come up with their predictions for the Heat’s 2025-26 season, head coach Erik Spoelstra would speak about Larsson’s prospects.Larsson is representing his country of Sweden in EuroBasket, where Spoelstra visited to watch the exhibition matchup against Estonia, as the coach spoke to the national broadcast at halftime. Spoelstra would touch on how the team envisions Larsson in the rotation, saying they want him to be an “all-around player,” even calling him a “bully with the basketball.”
“We just want to have him as an all-around player,” Spoelstra said, via The Sun Sentinel. “Now, he’s a very smart player, he’s a heady player, very skilled. And so during Summer League, we just had him handle the ball for us, more for his player development. It’s not that we’re trying to turn him into a point guard. But the more skills he can add, it can help your team.
“And he’s a physical player. We call him a bully with the basketball,” Spoelstra continued. “He knows how to draw fouls. He knows how to get into the paint. He’s improving his passing. And we think with improved ballhandling, he’ll be able to take advantage of those skills even more.”
The 24-year-old is not the only player on the Heat in EuroBasket, as the others are Italy’s Simone Fontecchio and Nikola Jovic from Serbia. Spoelstra is expected to visit some on the EuroBasket trail as traveling abroad isn’t out of the ordinary for the coach since he has been on Team USA in the Olympics.
Coach Spo in Sweden 🇸🇪🔥 pic.twitter.com/8NCIcjWdMH
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What Heat’s Pelle Larsson does “extremely well,” per Erik Spoelstra
Larsson has shown he contains the “Heat Culture” that is needed to play a huge role on the team, showcasing not just his defensive intensity, but also some ability on the offensive side of the floor. His role was limited last season as a rookie, but he would have moments in the year that saw him play a “bigger role,” as Spoelstra mentioned on the Swedish broadcast.
“What he does are the things that we value,” Spoelstra said about Larsson’s various traits. “He’s so tough. He makes winning plays. He’s a great role player. He fits around guys, the best players. And he will continue to get better, because he has a great work ethic.”
“And outside of that, he’s just a great human being,” Spoelstra continued. “We like that balance, of players that really know how to compete between those four lines, put it all out there to try to help your team win, but also can be good people and to get along with the other teammates, and he does that extremely well.”
Heading into his second season, it’s expected that Larsson will get a lot more consistent minutes as he averaged 14.2 minutes in his first year. Larsson is part of the youth movement in Miami that will be a crucial part of the rotation that also includes Kel’el Ware, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Nikola Jovic, and Kasparas Jakucionis.
At any rate, Larsson looks to improve with Miami as the team last season had a 37-45 record, which put them 10th in the Eastern Conference. After being swept in the first round of the playoffs by the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Heat are hungry to come back stronger than ever with training camp starting on Sept. 30.
