Bam Adebayo joins Miami Heat injury report Saturday. And why he owes Jimmy Butler $500
The Miami Heat beat the Washington Wizards on Friday, but Bam Adebayo went home $500 in debt to Jimmy Butler.
The star wing has spent all season urging Adebayo to shoot more three-pointers, so he and the post player reached an agreement before the Heat’s 112-103 win against the Wizards on Saturday. Any time Adebayo goes a whole game without attempting a three, he owes Butler $500.
“Bam owes me $500,” Butler revealed after practice at AmericanAirlines Arena, “because he did not shoot a three last game.”
Although Adebayo scored a career-high 24 points Friday in Miami, he did it without attempting a single three. Twenty-two games into the season, Adebayo has attempted only six three-pointers, going 1 of 6 on his limited attempts.
Adebayo has been a bit more confident in his midrange jumper in the last week after the Philadelphia 76ers and Brooklyn Nets both had success by sagging off the center on defense. Butler hopes the monetary incentive will force Adebayo into even more confidence stepping out even farther.
“Yeah, he’s making me a bet,” Adebayo said. “It’s whatever. As long as we keep winning, I don’t really care about that.”
Adebayo did make a slight protestation about losing the bet Friday against the Wizards. Adebayo claims he was open in the corner for a three while Butler had the ball. The star wing, Adebayo said, simply didn’t pass him the ball.
“I was in the corner, so does he owe me?” Adebayo said. “I was open. He just didn’t pass it.”
Joked Butler: “If you see him wide open in the corner and I don’t throw him the ball, you know it’s because I don’t want to give him $500.”
Injury update
Adebayo joined Miami’s injury report Saturday ahead of a 6 p.m. game against the Chicago Bulls on Sunday. The forward is dealing with a groin contusion he suffered Friday when Wizards point guard Ish Smith crashed into him.
While he didn’t sound too concerned about the injury, Adebayo said he would reassess his status Sunday.
“I’ll see how I feel in the morning, get with the staff,” Adebayo said. “I ain’t never really ran away from anything.”
Justise Winslow remains questionable after missing the win against Washington on Friday. The point forward was listed as questionable ahead of the game because of a lower back strain, and he went through both the team’s walkthrough and his own personal pregame routine before being ruled out shortly before tipoff. Winslow has already missed 11 games this season, including back-to-back games in October and November because of a back injury.
The Heat (16-6) will once again be without guard Goran Dragic, wing Dion Waiters and small forward KZ Okpala against the Bulls (8-15) in Miami. Dragic has missed three straight games with a right groin strain and Okpala hasn’t played since the third game of the season in October because of a left Achilles tendon strain. Waiters, who has yet to appear in a game this season, will miss his second straight game because of an illness.
This story was originally published December 7, 2019 at 3:08 PM.
