Miami Heat’s Jamie Jaquez Jr. Preaches Winning Over Any Individual Objectives This Season

Jaime Jaquez Jr. may be having the best season of his young career, but there’s only one objective for him this season – that’s win to the NBA Finals.

The 24-year-old Miami Heat swingman is one of the top players on a depth-heavy squad. The Heat feature multiple established players in their rotation, guys who have either been an All-Star or made deep playoff runs, such as Bam Adebayo, Andrew Wiggins, Norman Powell and Tyler Herro.

However, hidden in that bunch is none other than the third-year Jaquez, who is averaging a career-high 15.6 points and 5.0 assists per game on an efficient 51.2% from the field.

He’s doing all of this as a sixth man off of the bench – he hasn’t started a single game this season – and Jaquez has managed to accomplish it despite the Heat featuring four players who have averaged more points per game than him.

When asked if he wants to win the Sixth Man of the Year, Jaquez pivots to a “Heat Culture” type of quote that would make team president Pat Riley proud – the goal is to win a championship.

“I think an objective for me is trying to try to win an NBA championship this year,” said Jaquez in a one-on-one interview. “That’s probably my number one goal, for sure.”

When Jaquez was selected by the Heat with the 18th overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft, Miami was coming off of a surprise NBA Finals run. However, they’ve failed to match that playoff success since, having been eliminated in the first round in each of Jaquez’s first two seasons. They’ve been outmatched in those series against the likes of the Boston Celtics and Cleveland Cavaliers, winning a total of one game in those series.

The Heat have unloaded a number of those players since, with key holdovers such as Jimmy Butler, Kevin Love, Kyle Lowry, Max Strus and Gabe Vincent – among many others – having since departed.

The only key players remaining from that run are Adebayo and Herro.

Miami remains a winning team – they’re currently the seventh-best team in the East at 14-11 – but they’re not considered one of the elite teams in the conference. The Heat got off to a hot start at 14-7, but have since dropped four straight games.

The Heat have also struggled to defeat their in-state rivals, the Orlando Magic, who have gone 3-0 against Miami in the early portion of the season. The Magic are obviously considered one of the top threats in the East this season and a team that the Heat will have to learn how to beat if they want to advance deep in the playoffs this season.

“We just gotta continue to get better, continue to be in the film room, continue to work on things that we know win basketball games,” said Jaquez.

One of the big reasons the Heat have been able to remain afloat has been the play of Powell, the 32-year-old journeyman who Miami acquired in the Kevin Love trade. Powell had already broke through as a member of the Los Angeles Clippers, averaging a career-high 21.8 points per game last season.

He’s been even better this year, emerging as the Heat’s clear go-to scorer – Herro missed the early portion of the season due to injury – with 24.6 points per game on 50.0% shooting from the field and and 43.6% from beyond the arc.

Powell has drawn rave reviews from observers, including well-known NBA agent Rich Paul, who calls him one of the top shooting guards in the NBA. The veteran guard appears to be a favorite to clinch his first All-Star bid this season.

“Norman brings an incredible amount of leadership,” said Jaquez. “He brings a soundness to the game that I think we definitely need. He can settle everybody down, great veteran to have just in the locker room, obviously very prolific scorer. Can do so much on the basketball court and just really happy to have him.”

It’s obviously early in the season, but if the Heat are to bounce back, they’re going to have to learn how to mesh all of their talented players with Herro back in the lineup. Herro is coming off of his first All-Star campaign and averaged 23.9 points per game last season.

However, since his return from a left ankle injury, the Heat have gone just 3-5. Jaquez in particular has slowed down a bit with the addition of Herro as there are less shots to go around. He’s averaging 13.4 points per game on 44.3% from the field this month after averaging 16.1 points per game on 50.3% from the field in the month of November.

The Heat will have an opportunity to get back on track and snap their losing streak when they match up against the Toronto Raptors at the Kaseya Center next Monday night after a six-day layoff.

Jaime Jaquez Partners With Raising Cane’s To Give Free Bikes To Kids For The Holidays

During the Heat’s time off, Jaquez had the opportunity to meet with kids from the Boys & Girls Club of Miami-Dade, giving out 100 total free bikes to children.

“We’re giving away some bikes, giving away some toys, and spreading some Christmas and holiday cheer,” said Jaquez at the event. “This is gonna be the second year in a row we’re doing this. Last year was a great event, and I’m looking forward to having another great event this year.”

Jaquez, who has worked with Raising Cane’s before in the past, details why it’s great working with the restaurant brand.

“I think just how generous they are,” said Jaquez. “They’re always so willing to accommodate anything, always willing to give back and help the community. I think that’s probably the best part. I would just like to say, especially during these holidays, to spread love. We need a lot of love in this world, so just continue to spread that. And spread peace.”