Miami Heat: Bam Adebayo extension… or not reveals what Pat Riley thinks

The Miami Heat have a decision to make in the coming months. Whether Bam Adebayo is extended this offseason or later tells most of what Pat Riley believes.

The Miami Heat are in Orlando with the rest of the invited teams, chasing an NBA title amidst a global pandemic. Unlike other professional sports leagues though, see professional baseball, the NBA has seemingly done it right.

Although and of course, they were impacted by the pandemic, they have found a way to bubble themselves off enough to still go about the business of basketball. Well, that’s an at least welcomed sight to some of the owners, as they are taking a massive financial hit on the other side due to empty actual home arenas

You also have those NBA owners who rely on things outside of the business of basketball for their fortunes, which unfortunately includes Miami Heat owner, Micky Arison. Let’s look at this quote from a piece by ESPN’s Brian Windhorst.

"Miami Heat owner Micky Arison has lost $2.5 billion in net worth since March, after his Carnival Cruise Lines Corp. was shuttered. Though the Arison family has a completely different debt portfolio than recent buyers, they bought the team in 1987 for $32.5 million. In 2015, Arison liquidated $433 million in Carnival stock.The Heat have the second-highest payroll in the NBA this season with several key players such as Goran Dragic, Jae Crowder and Meyers Leonard headed for free agency. While they expect to save cap room to chase free-agent stars like Giannis Antetokounmpo in 2021 and might not extend young All-Star Bam Adebayo this year to help facilitate that plan, their spending for next year could be impacted by these financial factors."

While our first sentiment would be to take that for what it’s worth, our second is a question. What if this is the absolute truth? As it stands, let us move forward here as if it is.

That means that the Miami Heat will have to, as Windhorst indicated, make a decision on whether to wait to extend Bam Adebayo or get it done in the coming offseason. While I do believe Bam Adebayo wants to be and will be with the Miami Heat for his entire career, you have to consider the potential possibilities.

Will the Miami Heat extend Bam Adebayo this offseason? Whether it happens or not tells us a lot about where they are headed.

Something of that nature would almost open a door, however, I also believe that if it were necessary, Bam would understand and play his part in such a process to make the team better. Bam Adebayo deserves to be paid and will get his money. Whatever the eventual outcome of the situation though, it reveals a ton about what Pat Riley thinks.

If he does indeed push to hold off on an Adebayo extension, it means that he thinks that he has a chance to land one of the big fish, most notably Giannis Antetokounmpo. If he does extend Bam in the coming offseason, it either means there is at least some error in Windhorst’s notion, that the team’s owner bounced back in a major way, that the Miami Heat don’t plan to pursue a huge name, or that they think that they can’t land one either way.

That can only be what it all means and although they sound complicated and jumbled when listed all together, once you think about it, it’s all pretty simple, logical, and straightforward. That’s why a Bam Adebayo extension… or lack thereof, reveals a ton of or exactly what Pat Riley thinks about the coming offseason(s).