Bam Adebayo’s name now in rafters among Miami Heat greats. He’s using it as motivation
The ceremony was brief, maybe two-and-a-half minutes during halftime of the Miami Heat’s win over the Charlotte Hornets on Friday.
The occasion cemented Bam Adebayo’s status in Miami Heat lore.
The Heat on Friday unveiled a banner in the rafters of FTX Arena commemorating Adebayo’s gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics this summer.
As the ceremony unfolded, Adebayo — with a gold medal draped around his neck, his mother Marilyn Blount by his side and a large U.S. flag at midcourt, smiled and lifted his hands in the air as gold streamers popped into the air and the banner was shown to everyone in the arena.
“Forever in history,” Adebayo said.
His is one of five swaying from the rafters to celebrate Olympic success. The others recognized: Alonzo Mourning (2000), Tim Hardaway (2000), Dwyane Wade (2008) and LeBron James (2012), all of whom won Olympic gold while playing as part of the Heat organization.
“Bam’s a student of the game, but also of Miami Heat history,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “He’s seen the banners go up. That means something to him.”
What, exactly, does it mean to him?
“That’s motivation,” Adebayo said, “to get my name in the rafters again.”
His career is off to a good start. The 24-year-old was an All-Star in 2020 and has landed on the NBA’s All-Defensive second team twice in his first four seasons (2020, 2021)
His scoring per game has increased each season — from 6.9 in his rookie season in 2017-2018 to 8.9 in 2018-2019 to 15.9 in 2019-2020 to a career-best 18.7 in 2020-2021.
Through five games this season heading into Saturday’s game against the Memphis Grizzlies, Adebayo is averaging 20.6 points on 52.9 percent shooting and 14 rebounds per game while leading the NBA in defensive win shares. He has four double-doubles through five games. He recorded season highs in points (26) and rebounds (19) on Friday, including grabbing nine rebounds and scoring eight points in the fourth quarter.
With 95 double-doubles, he’s tied with Hardaway for the seventh-most in franchise history.
“I got my body back, man,” Adebayo said of his early-season success. “That’s that’s the biggest difference. I came into the season last year 245. Not being able to lit during the offseason really hurt me being able to defend and move guys around. This year, I got in the gym, got to really put some weight on. It feels good to be back.”
And his successes showed up on the international stage this summer, too.
Adebayo averaged 6.3 points and a team-best 5.7 rebounds on 57 percent shooting at the Tokyo Games. Adebayo, Kevin Durant and Damian Lillard were the only three to start all six games at the Olympics for the team coached by Gregg Popovich.
“It was an incredible accomplishment,” Spoelstra said of Adebayo being part of the gold experience. “Thinking about where he’s come from and his journey to get to that point, to be in a position to help the U.S. Olympic team win a gold, that’s really amazing.”
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