Miami Heat forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. has been excused by coach Erik Spoelstra to make a cross-country trip this weekend to watch his sister, Gabriela Jaquez, play for UCLA in the women’s national championship game in Phoenix on Sunday. The decision sets up a tight travel itinerary for Jaime as he shuttles between family support and professional duties.
The Heat’s schedule contributes to the logistical squeeze: Miami hosts the Washington Wizards on Saturday before a road game at the Toronto Raptors on Tuesday. That sequence would send Jaquez on roughly a 2,000-mile flight from Miami to Phoenix and then about a 1,900-mile trip from Phoenix to Toronto. Team officials said Jaquez is not expected to miss any Heat games, and Spoelstra granted the short leave to allow the Miami rookie to be at the title game.
Gabriela Jaquez, a senior for the Bruins, has been a steady contributor throughout UCLA’s run. She is third on the team at 13.3 points per game, adds 5.4 rebounds and 2.0 assists, and scored 10 points with two assists and four rebounds in UCLA’s 51-44 national semifinal victory over Texas. UCLA enters the championship at 36-1, making its second consecutive Final Four appearance and pursuing the program’s first women’s basketball national title against South Carolina.
Jaime’s presence in Phoenix carries personal resonance: the elder Jaquez starred for UCLA men’s basketball, helping lead the Bruins to the 2021 Final Four, and was the 2023 Pac-12 Player of the Year and a second-team All-America selection before being taken in the first round of the 2023 NBA Draft by Miami. The pair’s simultaneous prominence at high levels of college and professional basketball underscores the basketball pedigree in the Jaquez family.
Spoelstra’s accommodation highlights how teams sometimes balance player commitments with significant family milestones. For Jaquez, the weekend will be a brief but high-profile homecoming to reunite with his sister on college basketball’s biggest stage while remaining available for Miami’s upcoming slate.
Sunday’s championship will bring a spotlight to both Gabriela’s bid to complete UCLA’s historic season and Jaime’s role in managing the demands of an NBA rookie’s schedule with family obligations. The Heat resume regular-season play in Toronto on Tuesday after the title game, with Jaquez expected to rejoin the team following his trip.