Miami Heat youngster Jaime Jaquez Jr. received some massive praise during his time with the 2024 USA Basketball Men’s Select Team while Team USA prepared for the Olympics.
Jaquez and Cooper Flagg – the potential No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft – reportedly were considered the best players on the Select Team by their coaches.
This is great news for the Heat, as it shows just how good Jaquez has been since he was drafted in the first round of the 2023 NBA Draft.
Despite being selected with the No. 18 overall pick in that draft, Jaquez made an All-Rookie team in his first NBA season, averaging 11.9 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game while shooting 48.9 percent from the field and 32.2 percent from beyond the arc.
With the Heat letting Caleb Martin walk this offseason in free agency, Jaquez could be one of the players who steps into a bigger role in the 2024-25 season.
Flagg, who is set to play his freshman season at Duke University in the 2024-25 campaign, is a highly regarded prospect that gained praise from coaches during his time with the select team this summer.
“He’s a special young man,” Orlando Magic head coach Jamahl Mosley, who coached the Select Team, said of Flagg. “His talent level, his basketball IQ, his level of toughness, not afraid of those moments, protect the rim, make the right play, make the right read. He had all that.”
Flagg is much younger than Jaquez, but the Heat have already seen their young forward produce at the NBA level.
With several other impressive young players on the Select Team, including Jabari Smith Jr., Brandin Podziemski, Keegan Murray, Brandon Miller, Jalen Suggs and Trey Murphy, it’s certainly notable that Flagg and Jaquez stood out above the rest.
The Heat are hoping that Jaquez can make a leap in his second NBA season after he appeared in 75 games and made 20 starts in the 2023-24 campaign. Miami could end up relying heavily on Jaquez and Nikola Jovic at the forward spot, as both players could be key pieces for the future.
The Heat made the playoffs in the 2023-24 season, but they came up short, losing in the first round to Boston. If Jaquez continues to develop, Miami could be in a much different spot when the playoffs roll around in the 2024-25 campaign.