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Andrew Wiggins on his move to the Heat bench: ‘I’m just going with what coach wants,’ as Erik Spoelstra plans a ‘chaos lineup’ second unit
Andrew Wiggins said at the Heat’s shootaround in Utah that he will play whatever role Erik Spoelstra wants after losing his starting job to Pelle Larsson, while Spoelstra described a ‘chaos lineup’ second unit and addressed Tim Hardaway Jr.’s shrinking minutes.
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Andrew Wiggins spoke for the first time on Tuesday about losing his starting job, and he did not push back. Speaking at the Miami Heat’s shootaround in Salt Lake City, hours before Miami visits the Utah Jazz, Wiggins said he would play whatever role Erik Spoelstra gives him, while Spoelstra said his next job is turning the second unit into what he called a “chaos lineup.”
“I’m just going with what coach wants and just keep putting in that work,” Wiggins said. “It’s the same basketball, but obviously just different players. So, it’s really the same thing. Whether I play with the starters or the second unit, I feel like I just gotta be aggressive and play free.”
Spoelstra moved Pelle Larsson into the starting lineup in place of Wiggins for Sunday’s 114-108 win in Sacramento. It was only the 13th regular-season game Wiggins has played as a reserve in 13 NBA seasons, and his first off the bench since March 9, 2024, with the Golden State Warriors. He had scored 12 points on 4-of-18 shooting over his previous three starts.
‘I know it will come. It’s a long season’
Wiggins pointed to that 2023-24 season in Golden State, the only other stretch of his career when he was moved to the bench, as a reminder that the role does not have to be permanent. He went back into the Warriors’ starting lineup at midseason that year.
“I didn’t start the year off great. Figuring it out, finding it, finding my flow, my rhythm,” he said. “I know it will come. It’s a long season.”
He also said the second unit could give him more chances with the ball. In the starting group he often deferred to both Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bam Adebayo, while off the bench he usually plays next to only one of them. “Maybe, you know, see the ball a little bit more,” Wiggins said. “You know, try to find a good rhythm.”
Spoelstra: ‘It can be a chaos lineup’
Spoelstra said he liked what he was seeing from the starters, who are producing about 74% of Miami’s points, and that the next step is giving the bench its own identity. “Let’s keep that going. I like that. That’s trending in a good way,” he said. “We gotta find what’s positive right now, and there’s been a lot of conjecture about our first unit, whether the spacing works, whether it’s clunky. There’s really good things happening there.”
“The second unit, we’ll get these guys organized to change the energy of the game,” he said. “It might look differently than the first unit. It will look differently. It can be a chaos lineup, defensive swarm, and get some easy ones in transition. We’ll get that sorted through.”
On Wiggins specifically, he said: “Wiggs started out really aggressive. We’ll be able to find ways to get him aggressive in that second unit. That’s about all hands on deck. That’s it. Clear your minds. We need consistent minutes throughout our rotation.”
The new starting five of Davion Mitchell, Klay Thompson, Larsson, Antetokounmpo and Adebayo was plus-12 in 11 minutes in Sacramento, and Spoelstra mentioned that number on Tuesday. Across the season, that group has outscored opponents by 32 points per 100 possessions in 37 minutes together.
Spoelstra was also asked about a lineup split that surprised him: Miami’s minutes with Adebayo on the floor and Antetokounmpo off have been better on offense than on defense. “I don’t care,” he said. “We’re just going to figure out a way to make these units consistent and making an impact regardless of who’s in what unit right now. Some things are getting clearer and some things are becoming more of a positive, but all hands on deck. Make whatever unit you have out there on the court, make it a positive score. Clear your minds, it’s about competition, winning the scoreboard.”
Larsson: ‘Wiggs is coming off the bench, so I have no worries’
Larsson’s first start did not go smoothly. He picked up two fouls in the first quarter and fouled out late in the fourth, though he still scored 11 points and made 3 of 4 threes in 22 minutes. He said the lesson was to be careful early. “You’ve got to be a little bit careful the first two minutes, maybe, not to get the early one,” he said. “But then just play aggressive. I mean, Wiggs is coming off the bench, so I have no worries.”
He said his job next to Antetokounmpo and Adebayo is to move and shoot. “I think just the things I do with my cutting and running the floor frees up the space for those guys to go to work,” Larsson said. “I mean, they have to help on Giannis or Bam, so I get a lot of open looks. But I’ve worked on it all summer, ever since the season ended, pretty much. And, yeah, just trying to knock it down.”
Hardaway’s minutes shrink
The rotation change has squeezed Tim Hardaway Jr. the most. He averaged 18.4 minutes in Miami’s first seven games but only six over the last three, and he played seven minutes and went 0-of-3 in Sacramento. He is averaging 4.6 points on 26.9% shooting, including 9-of-38 from three, after signing a one-year, $6.1 million contract in the offseason. Last season in Denver he averaged 13.5 points, shot 40.7% from three and finished third in Sixth Man of the Year voting.
“I understand it, and it is tough,” Spoelstra said. “Some of these decisions are tough for me. It’s tough for some of the guys to find their rhythm. Right now, we have to overcome all of that and put things aside and just figure out a way to make that second unit a positive.”
“Right now, it’s clear minds,” he added. “Be a positive on the scoreboard, change the energy of the game, and then we’ll sort through rhythm, touches, getting guys playing comfortably the way that they are. But that second unit can be a game-changing energy unit.”
Mitchell on the Jazz and Darryn Peterson
Utah is 1-9 and has lost eight straight, and it will be without Lauri Markkanen, Keyonte George, Jaren Jackson Jr. and Jusuf Nurkic on Tuesday. Miami expects to have its full roster. Mitchell said the Heat could not look at the record. “Treat them as, we don’t look at their record,” he said. “We just kind of got to worry about ourselves right now. It’s for us to get better. We’re not really playing against their record. We know that any given night they can hit shots, any given night we can miss shots. So we got to just key on our defense and keep working on that.”
Mitchell will likely spend part of the night on rookie Darryn Peterson. “How poised he is as a rookie, how confident he is in his abilities. Just watching the summer league, I knew he was going to be really good,” Mitchell said. “You can tell he works on his game, so I just got to try to figure out how to just make the game a little bit harder for him, give him something he’s never seen before, and just try to be disruptive.”
Two-way players Tre Donaldson and Vlad Goldin were also back with the Heat on Tuesday after opening the G League season with two wins for the Sioux Falls Skyforce. Donaldson averaged 26.5 points and 7.0 assists in the two games, and Goldin averaged 22.5 points, 11.5 rebounds and 3.0 blocks.
The Heat, 4-6, play the Jazz at 9 p.m. ET on Tuesday, which is 4 a.m. Wednesday in Cairo.
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