Heat see progress with Bam Adebayo-Kel’el Ware lineup

Feb 15, 2026 4:28 PM

The Miami Heat’s lineup featuring two big men, Bam Adebayo alongside Kel’el Ware, began to show promising results shortly before the All-Star break, according to Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald.

Across the team’s final three games before the pause, Miami outscored opponents by 68 points during the 42 minutes the duo shared the court.

Although those matchups came against some of the league’s weaker teams, the early returns have still provided optimism for the coaching staff.

“I think they’re both in a different place than where they were six, eight weeks ago, three months ago for different reasons,” coach Erik Spoelstra said. “But that gives us a different look and the versatility of being able to play the two of them together and pound the glass on both ends is a weapon for us. They both want to make it work. And they both know where we have to improve to make it work for it to be really effective for us. And I appreciate that.”

The recent success marks a shift from earlier in the season, when the pairing struggled enough that Spoelstra temporarily moved away from using them together.

Chiang noted that Adebayo and Ware went 16 consecutive games without sharing the floor until injuries forced the Heat to revisit the combination in the games leading into the break.

Adebayo said the key to making the lineup effective comes down to effort and activity rather than focusing solely on rebounding numbers.

“We just got to be active,” he said. “It’s not necessarily about the boards. Everybody is going to point to that. But if we’re active on offense and defense, it looks great and it can help this team.”