Instead, more often than not, it has been the 210-pound option.
Advertisement
As in Andrew Wiggins, 30-year-old career forward.
“I just go out there and hit and play my heart out,” said Wiggins, listed by the Heat at 6-foot-7 and 210 pounds.
With coach Erik Spoelstra emphasizing the need to maximize his roster, which lately has meant working with a starting lineup that includes guards Davion Mitchell, Norman Powell and Tyler Herro, it has been Wiggins who has been asked to make a massive sacrifice, playing the power forward role, with 260-pound Bam Adebayo at center and 250-pound Kel’el Ware used as a backup.
In the first game of the season, it was 240-pound Nikola Jovic who received the power forward assignment. In the middle of a rather uneven journey, Jovic has not started again.
Advertisement
The Heat’s tally this season has been 14 starts for Wiggins at power forward (8-6), 10 for Adebayo (6-4) and one for Jovic (0-1).
For Wiggins, he’s been here before, according to Basketball Reference, having played 51% of his minutes at center with the Golden State Warriors in 2020-21 and 34% of his minutes at center with the Warriors in 2023-24, his last full season with Golden State.
However, last season, after his midseason trade to the Heat, Wiggins was listed as playing just 5% of his minutes at power forward, as Spoelstra came into the lineup with Adebayo playing alongside Ware, mixed in with ample power usage from Jovic, something that has largely been the exception this season.
Wiggins said he’s taking it all in stride.
Advertisement
“It hasn’t weighed on me at all. I’ve felt pretty comfortable,” he said, with the Heat returning from their five-day break for a Monday night game against the Toronto Raptors at Kaseya Center before embarking on a three-game road trip. “It was newer at the beginning of the year.
“But, like I said, I feel comfortable now and I feel like I’m doing a solid job as a power forward. I mean, it has its advantages and disadvantages.”
To put Wiggins’ growing role in perspective, consider that the Heat list Wiggins and 6-foot point guard Davion Mitchell at the same weight.
The last time Wiggins went out, it meant taking on the defensive challenge against 250-pound Orlando Magic power forward Paolo Banchero, with Wiggins holding his own, Banchero scoring 18, Wiggins 19, albeit in a 117-108 loss.
Advertisement
“He’s got some size on me,” Wiggins said. “But he’s got size and I’ve got quickness. So you see what the pros and cons are. I’d like to think I’m stronger than the average person. So I go up there and just take on the big dogs and play my heart out.”
With more consistency from Ware, Wiggins’ responsibility would likely be less to increase size. The same if Jovic hadn’t fallen so low and so fast.
Related articles
When it comes to Jovic, Spoelstra said: “He just has to keep it up. And every day is a chance for him to improve and make a good impression. It’s good that he has practice days to show us. But he’s been working behind the scenes and he’ll get his chance again.”
Advertisement
Still, for weeks it has been Wiggins’ form when it comes to the power rotation, that of a player who over his first five seasons averaged no more than 3% of his time in a power role.
For Wiggins, it’s simply about rising to the challenge, although it may not be a challenge of choice.
“I’ve been feeling pretty good lately,” he said. “I’ve been feeling pretty good. We practice hard. We play hard. But we rest a lot. They do a good job here with all the treatment and stuff, so I’ve felt pretty good.”
All while the heavy lifting continues.
Advertisement
“I’ve probably played the four more of the first 25 games here than anywhere else,” he said, “for sure.”