Heat’s Jaime Jaquez Jr. enters Dwyane Wade territory after hitting impressive milestone

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Heat’s Jaime Jaquez Jr. enters Dwyane Wade territory after hitting impressive milestone

Zachary Weinberger, ClutchPoints · ClutchPoints

Tue, Mar 31, 2026 ·

4 min read

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Heat's Jaime Jaquez Jr. enters Dwyane Wade territory after hitting impressive milestone appeared first on ClutchPoints . Add ClutchPoints as a Preferred Source by clicking here .

MIAMI – Though the Miami Heat have been experiencing extreme disappointment in losing seven of their last eight games entering Monday's game against the Philadelphia 76ers , star Jaime Jaquez Jr. has joined rare company after Sunday's performance. As the Heat are still dealing with defensive woes , especially after the 135-118 loss to the league-worst Indian Pacers, the outing from Jaquez was historic for a specific reason, reaching an outstanding franchise goal.

As Jaquez scored 17 points in the loss, it has led to the 25-year-old reaching 1,000 points off the bench, as he's been utilized mostly as Miami's sixth man. The mark for Jaquez puts him as the fourth player to record 1,000 points off the bench, joining Dwyane Wade , Tyler Herro , and Tyler Johnson.

There's no denying how Jaquez has immensely improved in his third season in the NBA, especially coming off a sophomore slump after an impressive rookie year. Head coach Erik Spoelstra would say how Jaquez's "resilience" to get better has been a treat to watch.

"I thought it was great to see the resilience to bounce back from a season that he was disappointed with, from a health standpoint, a contribution standpoint," Spoelstra said to ClutchPoints before Monday's contest against the 76ers. "He's a competitor, and he wants to help contribute to winning. He really prepared this off-season. He was able to prepare, and he's been, you know, a big part of what we do. You know, his paint attacks are really important for us. When he's healthy and feeling great, you know, that makes our offense look different."

Still, Miami looks to come back to its winning ways, especially with the team looking to avoid the play-in tournament for the fourth straight season, with the hope that Jaquez and company can help accomplish that.

Heat's Jaime Jaquez Jr. is up for the Sixth Man of the Year award

With Jaquez looking to continue to improve with the Heat, it can't be overstated how crucial he's been to the team's bench, which has averaged 43.2 points per game, fifth-most in the league. Jaquez himself averages 15 points, five rebounds, and 4.7 assists per game while shooting 50 percent from the field.

For this reason, Jaquez's name has been in contention for the NBA's Sixth Man of the Year award, though, while he was the favorite at the early parts of the season, he now has the second-best odds after San Antonio Spurs ' Keldon Johnson , via BetMGM.

Jaquez's drop could be due to the Heat's struggles as of late, losing seven of its last eight games before the aforementioned 76ers contest. This was a point made by Spoelstra on March 10.

"I think he should be the sixth man of the year," Spoelsta said to ClutchPoints. "I think when we're middling around at around .500, nobody was paying attention, I think beginning of the year, everybody was talking about it. And my point to the team, all of a sudden we're not winning at a high level, nobody's paying attention to it, and there's other guys being mentioned for that."

"We're not doing winning enough right now," Spoelstra continued. "But if we continue with that, then I think he would naturally get recognized for that."

At any rate, it remains to be seen if Jaquez ends up winning the honors, but no one can take away the improvements he's made in his third season. As Spoelstra mentioned on Monday, Jaquez has been crucial to the Heat's paint attacks, which were one of his strengths coming into the league.

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