The Miami Heat are a team build on the shoulders of Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo. Per a recent report, you could be left confused about one of those two.
The Miami Heat are fresh off a run to the NBA Finals. Now, after that has been over and done with for about a week now, the business of basketball must continue.
While the Miami Heat certainly have NBA Draft business, free-agent acquisition, and player development business to attend to, they must also take care of their in-house or own impending free-agents.
While Jae Crowder and Goran Dragic have both expressed the desire to return, as they are free agents to be now, there is one guy who isn’t scheduled to be a free agent until next offseason. That guy is Bam Adebayo.
Per a new report from The Athletic’s (subscription required) Shams Charnia, one could be confused about his status though. Let’s look at the quote.
"Rival teams are monitoring Adebayo’s extension situation and the aftereffects if Miami bypasses extending their superstar big man. Miami is preparing to go all in on the pursuit of Milwaukee’s two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo in 2021 free agency, sources said. There is a school of thought that salary-wise, waiting on Adebayo’s extension would allow for as much space as possible for 2021. But given Adebayo’s presence, leadership and meaning to the Heat franchise, this is a straight-forward conversation between team executives and Adebayo’s agent, Alex Saratsis: A max extension this offseason or not."
The Miami Heat will reportedly go ‘all-in’ on Giannis in free agency. What does that mean for Bam Adebayo though?
The line that really catches our eye from this except is the last one. The line that goes “But given Adebayo’s presence, leadership and meaning to the Heat franchise, this is a straight-forward conversation between team executives and Adebayo’s agent, Alex Saratsis: A max extension this offseason or not.”
That can easily be read as a declaration that Adebayo will leave if he doesn’t get his max extension. That is a fairly logical assumption to make based on that statement.
Here is the real business though. Bam Adebayo isn’t leaving the Miami Heat.
He has invested too much into this team, while he understands how much this team has invested in him. He loves his teammates, his coaches, and his team president.
Bam is also a smart dude, so if those conversations happen, he will understand exactly why they are happening and it isn’t because they don’t want to give him his money. He knows that the Miami Heat will pay him and if they don’t do it this offseason, it’s only to save room to land Giannis Antetokounmpo.
With the way the collective bargaining agreement and contracts are set up, the Miami Heat can go over the cap without penalty to re-sign their own, Bam Adebayo. They could not do that to bring in a guy from another club, Giannis, so that’s where the crux of that data lies.
Bam will get his money… from the Miami heat and he knows that. So, don’t let this report fool you, it just makes for one heck of a read and storyline.