The 2025-26 NBA general manager survey is out, and Bam Adebayo should be furious about it after receiving zero votes in the “Who’s the most versatile defender?” category.
You read that correctly. Zero. Zilch. Zip. Nada. Not a single solitary vote. Bam has plenty of reasons to approach this season with a chip on his shoulder. Add this to the list.
This is actually insane when you start to think about it. Twenty-nine front offices had the ability to vote for Adebayo. (The Miami Heat were precluded from picking their own players.) How none of them did is beyond me, you, sentient life at large.
Adebayo’s absence is even more absurd when looking at every player who did receive votes: Amen Thompson (who finished first), Draymond Green, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Dyson Daniels, Evan Mobley, Victor Wembanyama, OG Anunoby, Lu Dort, Toumani Camara, Tari Eason, and Ausar Thompson.
Many of these names are worth comparing to Bam in the context of versatility. Draymond, Mobley, Camara, and OG, in particular, wear a bunch of different defensive hats for their team. None of them, though, ultimately cover as many bases as Adebayo.
Bam Adebayo’s defensive versatility is unparalleled
The knock on Bam’s defense has for so long been that he doesn't excel in enough of the traditional big-man arenas. This is kind of laughable, because at 6’9”, he’s easily on the shorter end of the spectrum at the center position. Still, it’s fair game to at least bring his previous struggles in drop coverage.
Except, those issues hardly exist anymore. The Heat have put Adebayo in more drop situations, and he’s thrived. What’s more, he has not sacrificed his effectiveness in more aggressive coverages, either.
According to Couper Moorehead of Heat.com, teams scored just 0.48 points per possession through February when Adebyao blitzed a pick-and-roll, which came out to be the stingiest mark in the league. When Miami had him in drop coverage against pick-and-roll ball-handlers, he surrendered just 0.86 points per possessions—yet another elite mark.
Choose whatever measure of versatility you like—isolations defended, number of times bigs switched onto smaller players, the number of times Miami has changed up its defensive schemes, whatever. Bam is almost always going to stand out relative to his position.
There are still reasons to quibble over the percentage of shots he guards at the rim. But even that is more so a function of his role, because he’s doing everything else.
Frankly, the overall results speak for themselves. Or at least they should. The Heat have never ranked lower than the 67th percentile in points allowed per possession during Adebayo’s court time. While that itself isn’t proof of versatility, it morphs into one when you consider the many different roster iterations he’s needed to anchor.
Perhaps there’s a case that someone else deserves the “Most Versatile Defender” crown. Or maybe Adebyao’s up-and-down offensive reputation seeps into how executives evaluate him on defense. Whatever the reason, there is no justification for Bam receiving zero votes in a category that, if we’re being honest, might as well be named after him.