It’s a Tuesday morning. 4:51 a.m. The time of day that doesn’t really exist. The streets are quiet, save for the sound of a car door closing, a motor willing itself uphill in the distance. Then nothing, just the gentle caress of the passing wind.
Inside, you lie in bed, watching as the black begins to fade, thinking about the day ahead, the jobs to do, why you’re awake at this godforsaken hour. Where the time went.
Your mind wanders.
Then it hits you: Kel’el Ware is now a Buck. And he’s about to break
out.
The prelude
Hailing from Little Rock, Arkansas, Ware was destined for big things from birth, his mother naming him after Superman’s Kryptonian name, Kal-El. And by the time he was a high schooler at North Little Rock High School, he was already doing supernatural things, averaging 16.2 PPG, 9.1 RPG, and 4.1 BPG per game as a junior before upping those numbers to 20.3 PPG, 12 RPG, and 5.7 BPG as a senior.
A consensus five-star recruit, Ware began his college career playing for the Oregon Ducks but transferred to Indiana after a second-half-of-the-season reduction in playing time saw him finish the campaign averaging just 15.8 MPG as the backup centre. For the Hoosiers, Ware got back on track, putting up 15.9 PPG, 9.9 RPG, and 1.9 BPG, production that earned him the 17th spot on NBADraft.net’s 2024 Big Board and a comparison to All-Star big Jarrett Allen.
Heating up
Drafted 15th overall by the Miami Heat, Ware has played 141 games (70 starts) over his two-year career, averaging 10.3 PPG, 8.3 RPG, and 1.1 BPG in just 22.2 MPG during that span—numbers that compare favourably to Allen’s first two seasons as a pro. Standing 7’0” tall, he’s a walking double-double and an absolute monster on the glass, vacuuming in rebounds last year at a better rate (21.1 TRB%) than any Buck has since Giannis in his 2019-20 MVP season (22.1 TRB%), per Basketball-Reference.
Offensively, Ware is not a shot creator by any means—68% of his twos and 100% of threes were assisted—and he could certainly better leverage his physical gifts, using his size and athleticism to go through defenders more than he does. In fact, according to Cleaning the Glass (CtG), he drew fouls on just 6.6% of his shot attempts, placing him on the 16th percentile for bigs, right between ex-Buck Brook Lopez (6.8%) and new Hornet Naz Reid (6.6%).
Ware is, however, a finisher at the rim and a lob threat at all times, ranking eighth in the league with 137 dunks on the season despite playing at least 162 fewer minutes than everyone ahead of him (besides Giannis). That is, he’s a vertical spacer. He’s an analytics darling too, at least in terms of his shot profile, with 50% of his shots coming at the rim, 16% coming from the midrange, and 34% coming from three (per CtG). More importantly, he makes his long-range shots, hitting from both the corners (27/67, 40%) and from above the break (61/152, 40%).
But it hasn’t all been highlight flushes and swats into the stands. Ware’s 2025-26 season was marred by a fluctuating role—he was in and out of the starting lineup (34 starts in 77 games)—and inconsistent minutes. Some nights, he’d play north of 30 minutes; others he’d be relegated to totals in the teens. There were even occasions he wouldn’t play at all. At its worst, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra publicly criticised Ware following a loss to the Boston Celtics in which Ware played fewer than nine minutes, saying, “I get it with young players—you sometimes subconsciously play poorly to say ‘Hey I’ll play poorly until you play me the minutes I think I deserve.’ That’s not how this works.”
Whatever the reason, one trend is impossible to ignore—Ware is far more productive when playing heavier minutes:
Cream City rise?
Now in Milwaukee, traded for the franchise’s best ever player—who just so happens to also be a seven-footer taken with the 15th overall pick in the draft—Ware has big shoes to fill. And while no one in their right mind expects him to replicate what Giannis did for Milwaukee and the Bucks, he is expected to help this team rise back to prominence. To do so, he’ll need to tap into all that potential.
First, he’ll need to find his role. As things stand, the Bucks have multiple options at the five, with Ware, incumbent starter Myles Turner, and Jericho Sims, who received increased playing time as last season went on and picked up his player option earlier this offseason. The simple answer is to embrace the youth movement—start Ware and move Turner for draft capital, but that doesn’t appear to be happening anytime soon. According to The Stein Line’s Marc Stein and Jake Fischer, “Sources say that the Bucks have indeed received some trade interest in veteran center Myles Turner in the wake of the Giannis Antetokounmpo blockbuster, but one league source asserted Friday night that Milwaukee is not actively engaged in moving him.”
Realistically, this is the right move by Jon Horst and the Bucks. After a disappointing first year in Milwaukee, Turner’s value is likely at an all-time low, so holding onto him and rebuilding his trade value could be a shrewd move. On another line of thinking, as one of the team’s few veterans, Turner has value as a mentor to Ware—after all, he knows a thing or two about being a versatile centre who can protect the rim and space the floor. Retaining Turner also puts Sims in a better position too, as the team’s third-string centre who can step into a bigger role in case of injury (and/or trade). The internal competition between the three also cannot be overlooked; the Bucks need Ware to ascend and this won’t happen without him being tested.
What the Bucks can’t afford, however, is to stunt Ware’s development by holding him back. That is, he needs minutes—plenty of ‘em, and preferably as a starter. Turner might be better than Ware now—not in this writer’s opinion, but there’s certainly a case—but he won’t be better in a few years’ time and he certainly isn’t going to lead Milwaukee back to relevance. Neither will Sims. Ware, at least, has a shot at it.
This season, then, expect a breakout. Watch as Ware collects double-doubles like Turner does Lego, drop your jaw when he stuffs one home or sends one flying, hold your friends back when he hits his fifth or sixth or seventh three in a game. But pay attention to the little things too. Keep an eye on his free-throw rate, nod approvingly when he makes the right rotational read, pump your fist when he sprints back in transition defence. Rejoice when he does all of these things consistently.
When he does, 4:51 a.m. won’t bother you no more.
How do you see Ware faring in Milwaukee? Share your predictions in the comments.
