How will Heat manage the Bam-Giannis minutes this season? Also, Larsson still dealing with illness

Miami Heat admin October 12, 2026 0 Comments

How will Heat manage the Bam-Giannis minutes this season? Also, Larsson still dealing with illness

While the Miami Heat’s new leading duo of Bam Adebayo and Giannis Antetokounmpo continue to learn how to play together, the Heat is also learning how to play when one of them isn’t on the court.

Adebayo and Antetokounmpo shared the court for most their playing time in the Heat’s preseason opener, but Heat coach Erik Spoelstra staggered their minutes in the Heat’s second exhibition in Thursday’s preseason win over the New Orleans Pelicans.

“We’ll see where it eventually goes,” Spoelstra said when asked about the strategy he will deploy with Adebayo and Antetokounmpo’s minutes this regular season. “But it makes sense to have one of those guys on the floor as often as you can. We also want to maximize their time together. That’s usually what teams are trying to do. But we have a lot of versatility, so we want to be able to maximize all of it.”

Adebayo and Antetokounmpo shared the court for 9:55 while playing the first half of the Heat’s second preseason contest on Thursday before being held out of the second half. But at least one of Adebayo or Antetokounmpo was on the court for the entire first half.

In the Heat’s preaseason-opening win over the Toronto Raptors in Quebec City, Canada, on Oct. 3, Adebayo and Antetokounmpo shared the court for nearly all of their playing time. They played 12:47 together in that exhibition, with the only time one was on the court without the other in that contest coming during a 1:20 stint in the second quarter when Antetokounmpo was in the game and Adebayo was on the bench.

Adebayo and Antetokounmpo did not play in the Heat’s third exhibition — a 125-124 preseason loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday in Miami.

“We’re still trying to figure this thing out,” Adebayo said of staggering minutes with Antetokounmpo, with the Heat set to play its fourth of five preseason games on Wednesday against the Brooklyn Nets at Kaseya Center (7:30 p.m., WPLG Local 10). “So I know it’s not absolute. I feel like [staggering our minutes] was something he probably tried [Thursday]. But for the most part, it’s what we did in training camp when we switched the teams, our mini camp, so everybody’s kind of got a sense of what everybody’s tendencies are. So it’s just, to me, it’s making the group better because you’re seeing different lineups.”

Across the two exhibitions that Adebayo and Antetokounmpo have played in this season, the Heat has outscored opponents by six points in the 23 minutes they have shared the court.

“It’s great,” Antetokounmpo said of playing alongside Adebayo. “He’s a great communicator. He plays hard. He’s being physical. He’s talked to me a lot during the game and tried to make me feel as comfortable as I can. It’s great to be out there with him. And offensively, it’s fun. It’s fun playing with him.”

Injury update

Heat guard Pelle Larsson is still dealing with an illness that forced him to miss practice time last week and kept him out of the team’s second preseason game. Larsson also left Saturday’s exhibition early after logging 24 minutes against the Timberwolves due to lingering effects of the illness.

Larsson was again held out of practice on Monday.

Heat guard Dru Smith (right calf strain) and forward Keshad Johnson (right hamstring strain) have missed the first three preseason games after suffering their injuries during training camp. But both Smith and Johnson are making progress, and they have not yet been ruled out for the Heat’s regular-season opener on Oct. 21 against the Timberwolves.

“Dru is making a lot of progress, just doing court work, but not the full practice,” Spoelstra said after Monday’s practice. “And KJ was able to go through the majority of practice.”