Does Bam Adebayo consider himself a ‘Heat lifer?’ And Adebayo’s take on Jimmy Butler
The summer of 2021 seems far away, especially these days with the 2019-20 NBA season currently on hold amid the coronavirus pandemic.
But All-Star center Bam Adebayo was forced to look ahead to 2021 when he was asked this week if he wants to spend his entire NBA career with the Heat. Adebayo, 22, will earn $5.1 million in the final year of his rookie-scale contract in 2020-21 before he’s eligible to become a restricted free agent in the summer of 2021 unless an extension with the Heat is signed this upcoming offseason.
“Right now, my mindset is yes because I can’t dictate the future,” Adebayo said when asked if considers himself a “Heat lifer” during a Monday Instagram Live Interview with iHeartRadio’s Ashley Nicole. “If I could, I would like to stay here like [Udonis Haslem]. But you never know what happens in the future. Everybody just knew D-Wade was a lifer until he left because of situational reasons. You never know. But for me, I feel like I am. I feel like I would want to be a part of [one] organization like UD did just because I look up to UD.”
If Adebayo remains with the organization, he’s the type of player who could help attract a superstar to Miami when the Heat is set to have enough cap space to sign a max player in the summer of 2021. Milwaukee Bucks All-Star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, who can become a free agent that offseason and is expected to be one of the Heat’s top targets, and Adebayo share the same agent in Alex Saratsis.
Adebayo’s cap hit in 2021-22 will be $12.8 million, regardless of what he’s paid because the Heat will own his full Bird Rights.
“I want to know what it feels like to win a championship,” Adebayo said during the Instagram Live session. “You hear the fans talk about it. You see when D-Wade walks in, the love he gets because he brought the city three championships. Him and UD, everywhere they go in Miami, somebody is stopping to take a picture because they got so much respect with what they’ve done on the court. I want to win. I want that type of love.”
Before the NBA suspended play on March 11, Adebayo was in the middle of a breakout season. In his third NBA season and his first as a full-time starter, Adebayo is averaging career highs in points (16.2), rebounds (10.5), assists (5.1), steals (1.2), blocks (1.3) and minutes (34.4) on his way to earning his first All-Star Game appearance.
Adebayo and Antetokounmpo are the only two players in the league averaging at least 16 points, 10 rebounds, five assists, one steal and one block this season.
That level of production has drawn praise from around the league and has many pointing to Adebayo as the next Heat icon — a lineage that includes Alonzo Mourning, Dwyane Wade and Haslem. Minutes after having his Heat jersey retired in February, Wade said during a news conference that Adebayo is “definitely somebody that we look at and say, Alonzo, UD, guys like that, you have that character and you have that opportunity to do something special within this organization that loves him.”
“When you get talked about like that by somebody that’s a Hall of Famer and a couple of Hall of Famers, it makes you want to take your game to the next level,” Adebayo said when asked about Wade’s comments. “You want to do something for the city of Miami like he did. My whole goal of being here is to win and get a championship. I feel like we can do that and we want to do that.”
▪ During the Instagram Live chat, Adebayo was asked if believes Heat All-Star wing Jimmy Butler is one of the most misunderstood players in the NBA.
“Yeah,” Adebayo answered. “I can say he is just because if people don’t really know Jimmy, everybody is going to think he’s an [expletive]. But you got to get to know him. Like he can have his [expletive] moments, but he’s a very down to earth dude. The bottom line is he wants to win and he wants to bring other people with him to win. Like he doesn’t want that joy for himself.”
Why has Butler fit in so well with the Heat?
“I feel like our organization gave Jimmy a vision of what he wanted,” Adebayo said. “Jimmy is one of those hard-nosed, gets-it-out-the-mud type of guys. Our organization is built off of guys like that, built off of guys who go through a brick wall to get a loose ball and do anything that it takes to win. I feel like Jimmy fell in love with that type of energy and that’s why he’s so calm and I guess manageable, I guess you can say. He’s a in a place where he fits in. It’s him being comfortable.”
Adebayo added that he hasn’t been able to use the portable basketball hoop Butler had sent to him because he’s spending the league shutdown in his Miami condo. Butler had portable baskets sent to each Heat player and coach, as they all wait out the NBA hiatus.
This story was originally published April 29, 2020 at 9:56 AM.
