Heat’s Jaquez comes up short for NBA Sixth Man of the Year, still savors revival

For Jaquez it nonetheless was nothing short of a bounceback season, having struggled a year ago to the degree it was not certain he even would be in Erik Spoelstra’s 2025-26 rotation.

In fact, although not a finalist for the award, a case could have been made, as well, for Jaquez as a candidate for the Most Improved Player award.

“I feel a lot more confident,” Jaquez said in the wake of his third NBA season. “I feel like I really belong in this league. I think this year solidified that for at least myself, knowing that I can really do this. Going forward, I’ll continue to stay ambitious, continue to strive for more, continue to improve, continue to help this team win games.

“Ultimately, that’s what I’m looking for. I had a so-and-so great year, but it didn’t translate to the wins that we were all hoping for. This summer, it’s going to be me looking for a way to correlate that to winning a lot more basketball games.”

Basically, Jaquez said he got his head back in the game.

“I was working with a mental coach, just being able to prioritize the right things during the year,” he said. “He helped me get rid of a lot of the clutter that was in my head, worrying about things that you probably shouldn’t worry about and only focus on what you can control. That was a huge help this year.”

Spoelstra’s move to an equal-opportunity offense allowed Jaquez to play a more attacking style this season, one that had him thriving with both his footwork in the paint and his passing game.

“I think I was just able to get in the paint, really put pressure on defenses, make the right reads,” he said of this past season’s revival. “I thought the flow and the movement helped a lot with that. It’s really easy to make passes when guys are moving for you and getting into open spaces. I think that was the key to this offense, the movement.

“For me, it made reading a lot easier. It made the space a lot more open, so I could be able to get in and do what I do. We put up a lot of points and it ended up working out great. The fastbreak aspect of our game as well was extremely crucial. That’s why we were able to put up a lot of points this year.”

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Jaquez led all NBA reserves in points, field goals, 20-point games, points in the paint, fast-break points and points off turnovers, while posting a +169 plus/minus rating in reserve. In addition, among NBA reserves, he ranked second in assists and fouls drawn, third in free throws made, tied for third in double-doubles, fourth in defensive rebounds and fifth in total rebounds.

Further, Jaquez this season scored the second-most bench points during a season in Heat history, becoming just the fourth player to score at least 1,000 off the bench, joining Herro, Dwyane Wade and Tyler Johnson.

Jaquez’s lone NBA award remains being named first-team All-Rookie in 2024, after being selected at No. 18 in the 2023 draft out of UCLA. At UCLA, he won the Lute Olson Award in 2023 as top NCAA Division I player, the same year he was named Pac-12 Player of the Year.

Jaquez, 25, is entering the fourth and final year of his rookie-scale contract, to earn $5.9 million next season. He is eligible this offseason to sign a five-year extension, a window that closes at the start of next season.