{"id":96249,"date":"2025-09-03T06:40:41","date_gmt":"2025-09-03T06:40:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=96249"},"modified":"2025-09-03T06:41:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-03T06:41:11","slug":"nikola-jovic-was-surprised-to-see-great-piece-kasparas-jakucionis-fall-in-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=96249","title":{"rendered":"Nikola Jovic was \u2018surprised\u2019 to see \u2018great piece\u2019 Kasparas Jakucionis fall in draft"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/heatnation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/USATSI_26533849_168403908_lowres-860x573.jpg\" alt=\"Kasparas Jakucionis Miami Heat\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Plenty of draftniks envisioned former University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign star guard Kasparas Jakucionis to be selected with a lottery pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, but the opening 14 picks of the draft came and went without him hearing his name called. The Miami Heat took his name off the board by selecting the Lithuanian with the No. 20 overall pick.<\/p>\n<p>Jakucionis\u2019 new teammate, big man Nikola Jovic, admitted that he\u2019s quite familiar with his game and watched him hoop at the collegiate level.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cI know a lot about his game,\u201d Jovic revealed. \u201cI followed him in college because he played with my really good friend Tomislav Ivisic, and that\u2019s why I watched his game.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Jovic said he was surprised to see Jakucionis fall so far in the draft as well, and he seems to think the 19-year-old will be a \u201cgreat piece\u201d for the Heat moving forward.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cI was really surprised when we drafted him because I really thought he was going to be like a top-10 pick,\u201d Jovic said. \u201cBut it\u2019s for sure a good pick for us. He\u2019s a great player. I haven\u2019t really talked to him, but I can\u2019t wait to see him play. And I\u2019m sure he\u2019ll be a great piece for us.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Miami used its only pick in last June\u2019s draft to add Jakucionis to the fold.\u00a0Five Reasons Sports\u2019 Greg Sylvander claimed leading up to the draft that lots of people thought the draft pick could end up as part of a trade for star forward Kevin Durant, but that never came to fruition. Durant got moved to the Houston Rockets via trade.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s far too early to definitively conclude as to whether the Heat made the right decision drafting Jakucionis in the opening round of the 2025 NBA Draft, but his play in Summer League certainly left a lot to be desired. He had moments where he flashed his uniquely well-rounded skill set, but they were few and far between. He averaged just 9.5 points on 31.8 percent shooting from the field and 21.4 percent from 3-point range coupled with 2.8 rebounds and 2.5 assists per contest.<\/p>\n<p>Jakucionis can get rid of any bad taste that Heat fans might have left in their mouths from his Summer League stint with a productive and promising stretch of preseason play. Miami will tip off its six-game preseason schedule with a bout against the Orlando Magic on Oct. 4.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s to hoping that Jakucionis will follow in the footsteps of recent Heat draft picks who were highly successful as rookies, including big man Kel\u2019el Ware \u2014 who finished sixth in the Rookie of the Year award voting last season \u2014 and forward Jaime Jaquez Jr.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Plenty of draftniks envisioned former University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign star guard Kasparas Jakucionis to be selected with a lottery pick in the 2025 NBA Draft.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":96250,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-96249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.7 - 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