Rookie Jaime Jaquez Jr. and the NBA’s Slam Dunk Contest? Also, Heat to celebrate Dwyane Wade

Rookie wing Jaime Jaquez Jr. has already earned a consistent spot in the Miami Heat’s rotation and fourth-quarter lineups. He also wouldn’t mind earning a spot in this season’s NBA Slam Dunk Contest.

While the 22-year-old Jaquez is becoming known for his excellent footwork in the mid-post and impressive basketball IQ at this early stage of his NBA career, he’s also already shown he’s athletic enough to throw down a rim-rattling dunk if the opportunity presents itself. And Jaquez wouldn’t mind showing off his dunking ability during All-Star Weekend in Indianapolis in a few months.

While invitations for the Feb. 17 Slam Dunk Contest haven’t been extended yet, he’s interested in participating if he’s selected by the league.

“The dunk contest is something that everybody loves,” Jaquez said ahead of the Heat’s matchup against the Charlotte Hornets on Wednesday night at Kaseya Center. “It’s a lot of fun. I’d definitely consider doing it, for sure.”

The 6-foot-6 Jaquez, who tied for the sixth-highest max vertical leap at this year’s NBA Draft Combine at 39 inches, entered Wednesday’s game with 11 completed dunks this season. Centers Bam Adebayo and Thomas Bryant are the only players on the Heat’s roster who have more dunks than Jaquez this season.

It helps that Jaquez is the only Heat player who has appeared in every game this season, but he also has completed the sixth-most dunks among NBA rookies this season behind only Dallas’ Dereck Lively II, San Antonio’s Victor Wembanyama, Detroit’s Ausar Thompson, Oklahoma City’s Chet Holmgren and Washington’s Bilal Coulibaly. The only players on that list who aren’t 7-footers are Jaquez, Thompson and Coulibaly.

“I don’t know, I guess people just haven’t really watched me play, honestly,” Jaquez said when asked whether he feels like his dunking ability has surprised opponents through the first month-plus of his rookie season. “You ask anybody who played on my high school team, they’ll tell you all the things that I used to do in high school. If you go watch back some of my high school games at Camarillo High School, we would just throw lobs after the backboard to me like it was the Globetrotters.”

Only four Heat players have ever participated in the Slam Dunk Contest — Billy Thompson in 1990, Harold Miner in 1993 and 1995, and Derrick Jones Jr. in 2020. The short list of Heat participants who have won the event includes Miner, who claimed the dunk crown in 1993 and 1995, and Jones, who was the dunk champion in 2020.

“I think I’m a smart dunker,” Jaquez said. “I’m quick. I don’t think I jump the highest at all. I just know how to take advantage of it when I have an opportunity to take advantage of it.”

Jaquez has already won at least one such event in his life, beating Philadelphia 76ers forward KJ Martin and Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Drake London in a 2019 dunk contest while in high school in California. Jaquez threw down a between-the-legs dunk, a 360-alley-oop dunk and jumped over two high school players for another dunk to win that competition.

“I got my first dunk in eighth grade and I even dunked on somebody for the first time in eighth grade,” said Jaquez, who played four seasons at UCLA after his high school days. “I always wanted to dunk like Kobe [Bryant] and so I would try every day until I could dunk. I finally was able to do it and I started doing it in games.”

WADE’S HALL OF FAME NIGHT

The Heat announced Wednesday it will hold a Dwyane Wade Hall of Fame Night at its Jan. 14 game against the Hornets at Kaseya Center.

“The night will showcase highlights from Wade’s career, including an exclusive halftime interview featuring the basketball legend,” according to the Heat’s announcement.

Wade, who retired at the end of the 2018-19 season after 16 NBA seasons, was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a first-ballot Hall of Famer in August.

Wade, who was drafted by the Heat in 2003, is the Heat’s all-time leader in categories like points, games played, minutes played, assists and steals and is considered one of the top shooting guards in NBA history. Among his most impressive accomplishments: three championships with the Heat (2006, 2012, 2013), a Finals MVP award in 2006 and an NBA scoring title in the 2008-09 season.

To learn more about the celebration and to purchase tickets to that Jan. 14 game, visit HEAT.com/WadeHOF.

THE HEAT WAY

Before Monday’s loss to the Heat in Charlotte that kicked off the home-and-home set between the Hornets and Heat, Hornets coach Steve Clifford pointed to one reason why Miami’s success has endured over the years.

“I would say them and San Antonio [Spurs], I would say are similar in that to me, in the most simplistic way, would be toughness and intelligence is what wins in our league,” Clifford said. “It’s hard to win if you’re not smart in the playoffs and it’s hard to win if you don’t have toughness. So I think those are qualities that, obviously, they look for.”

The bottom line, Clifford said, is the Heat “don’t give possessions away.”

“Mistakes are a big deal in this league,” Clifford added. “And then there, it’s a big deal. And they don’t say, ‘That’s OK.’ Maybe some of the younger players aren’t as used to that. But they obviously have done a great job of finding the guys that are.”

INJURY REPORT

The Heat remains without Bam Adebayo (left hip contusion), Tyler Herro (right ankle sprain), Haywood Highsmith (lower back contusion), Nikola Jovic (G League) and Dru Smith (season-ending knee injury) on Wednesday against the Hornets.

But there’s optimism that Herro will be able to make his return within the next week, according to a source close to the situation. The expectation is that Adebayo will also return at some point in December.

Heat guard Josh Richardson will also miss Wednesday’s game after missing the team’s morning shootaround because of a headache.

The Heat has 11 players available against the Hornets.

The Hornets will also be short-handed, ruling out Amari Bailey (G League), LaMelo Ball (right ankle sprain), Leaky Black (G League), Cody Martin (left knee injury recovery), Frank Ntilikina (left tibia non-displaced fracture), Nick Smith Jr. (G League) and Mark Williams (low back contusion) for Wednesday’s game in Miami.