Takeaways, details from short-handed Heat’s preseason loss in San Antonio

Takeaways from the Heat’s 120-104 loss against the Spurs on a night when Miami played without most of its key players (and without 10 players overall) and first overall draft pick Victor Wembanyama dazzled the San Antonio crowd in his first home game:

▪ Heat forward Jamal Cain made a strong statement in his bid for his two-way contract to be converted to a standard deal.

Cain hoped the Heat would give him a standard contract this offseason, just as Miami did with Orlando Robinson, who also played on a two-way contract last season.

Instead, the Heat challenged Cain to show more. And there was plenty more Friday.

Cain hit his first three three-pointers to highlight an 11-point, 4-rebound first quarter and finished with 24 points and 10 rebounds in 27 minutes. He shot an efficient 9 for 14 from the field and 6 for 8 on threes.

His corner three-point shooting has improved, and Cain remains very much in play for the Heat’s 14th roster spot.

Cain didn’t take a shot in six scoreless minutes of Miami’s preseason opener but was effective defensively late in that game, and Miami was a plus 11 with Cain on the court against Charlotte.

Keep in mind that players on two-way contracts make no more than $559,782 and are eligible to appear in only 50 NBA games.

Conversely, players on standard deals, with Cain’s experience level, pocket $1.8 million this season. Teams can switch out players on two-way contracts at any time.

▪ As for the Heat’s other players with two-way deals, guard R.J. Hampton sustained an injury pre-game and guard Dru Smith had some decent moments but remains mistake-prone.

Hampton pulled his right hamstring in pre-game warmups and thus became the 10th Heat player unavailable for the game.

Hampton likely would have received significant playing time otherwise, after logging 14 minutes with three rebounds, three assists and a missed shot in 14 scoreless minutes of the Heat’s opener.

Smith shook off an 0-for-6 preseason opener against Charlotte with a better showing Friday. He displayed quickness on two drives for layups in a 13-point first half but didn’t score again, closing 5 for 10.

But his ball-handling remains an issue in preseason. After committing three turnovers in the opener, he committed five more, compared with three assists in 26 minutes.

Besides Hampton, the Heat played with Jimmy Butler (dental issue), Caleb Martin (left knee), Nikola Jovic (right knee), Jaime Jaquez Jr. (left groin) and Josh Richardson (left foot). None of the injuries are considered serious. The Heat left home Bam Adebayo, Tyler Herro, Kevin Love and Kyle Lowry, so that younger players could get a chance.

That left the Heat with 11 available: Thomas Bryant, Cain, Justin Champagnie, Cheick Diallo, Haywood Highsmith, Drew Peterson, Duncan Robinson, Orlando Robinson, Smith, Cole Swider and Alondes Williams.

The Heat -- which had 22 assists and 23 turnovers -- opened the game with Duncan Robinson, Highsmith, Bryant, Smith and Cain.

▪ Swider couldn’t deliver much of a sequel to his preseason opener, but a couple of the players on training camp invitations played decently.

After scoring all 17 of his points in the fourth quarter of the comeback win on Tuesday, Swider opened 1 for 8 and finished with 11 points on 3 for 14 shooting, including 3 for 12 on threes against the Spurs. The Heat was outscored by 18 in his 26 minutes.

Forward Justin Champagnie --matched up at times against his brother Julian (Justin blocked one of Julian’s shots) -- was the best of the Heat’s “Exhibit 10” players on Friday, contributing 11 rebounds, though he shot 2 for 8.

Williams had nine points, four rebounds, four assists and two steals, but the Heat was outscored by 19 in his 18 minutes.

Diallo (the last of the 11 available to play) and Peterson didn’t move the needle much.

▪ Wembanyama shook off a 2 for 6 start and provided several highlight-worthy moments on a 23-point night.

That included multiple dunks and a three that the 7-4 Wembanyama easily launched over 6-10 Bryant. The first overall pick had four rebounds, four assists and three blocks in his 23 minutes, closing 10 for 15 from the field and 1 for 5 on threes.

Early on, the Heat used the 6-4 Highsmith on Wembanyama, a rare instance of a player being guarded by a player who’s a full foot shorter.

Highsmith had the edge early, before the rookie phenom scored 11 in the second quarter against multiple Heat defenders, including Highsmith, Orlando Robinson and Bryant.

Udonis Haslem, appearing in studio on TNT’s halftime show, noted Highsmith is “who we put on Jayson Tatum in the playoffs. That’s probably our best perimeter defender and you see what Victor is able to do. That shows you how skilled he is.”

Spoelstra called Wembanyama “an incredible generational talent. It’s great he ended up here. He’ll be coached well. All the interest and excitement is good for the league.”

▪ The Heat veterans who played had some moments.

Orlando Robinson continued to show a nice touch around the basket and used his body and good footwork to weave around Wembanyama for a basket. He had 12 points (6 for 9 shooting) and four rebounds but also five turnovers in 17 minutes.

Bryant had a quiet night (four points, five rebounds, three turnovers in 20 minutes) after producing 15 points and 8 rebounds in 17 minutes of the preseason opener.

Duncan Robinson chipped in 14 points and five assists. Highsmith struggled with his shot (2 for 9, 6 points) but had his hands full with Wembanyama and snagged three steals.

The Heat plays its third of five preseason games at 6 p.m. Sunday against Memphis at Kaseya Center, with Bally Sports Sun televising.