For the first time in his career, Bam Adebayo will be facing immense pressure heading into the start of the season for the Miami Heat.
Never at any other moment in his career has there been as much pressure on Bam as there is heading into this season. And the acquisition of Giannis Antetokounmpo is a big reason why. Now that there are genuine expectations tied to the Heat (in large part because of Giannis), Bam finds himself in a position where he has to hold up his end of the bargain.
Not only does Bam have to produce at an efficient rate, but he needs to prove that he's a capable No. 2 option and supporting star next to Giannis. Again, he's never had this much pressure on his shoulders at any other point in his career.
This high-level pressure is new to Bam Adebayo
Even though the Heat did have a measured level of success, and specifically on two occasions, during the Jimmy Butler years, with Bam seemingly as the second-best player on the roster, there were never true expectations for those teams.
When the Heat made deep runs in the playoffs, they were both on surprise occasions, when the Heat were the 5th and 8th seeds, respectively. There wasn't much, if any, pressure on those Heat teams, much less on Bam, who was still trying to carve out a name for himself.
But this time around, things are much different.
Not only is Bam an established star, but he's a big part of the reason why Giannis "preferred" a trade to the Heat. Without Bam, I'd find it hard to believe that Giannis would've welcomed a trade to Miami. And because of that, if the Giannis experiment is going to be successful, Bam is going to need to play at a very high level.
Perhaps most importantly, he's going to have to answer the bell of pressure.
How will Bam Adebayo handle the pressure?
While the hope is that Bam does come through and emerges as a strong supporting star next to Giannis, there's no guarantee that he will. Bam has all the tools to do so, but he's never had to under this high-level pressure.
It's certainly going to be considered the biggest challenge of his career yet with the Heat. No longer under the radar, how will Bam perform? Under championship-level expectations, how will he (and the rest of this Heat roster) handle that?
For the first time in a long time, the Heat (and Bam) have real pressure on their shoulders. While none of this is new to Giannis (and a couple of the Heat players like Klay Thompson and Andrew Wiggins), that isn't necessarily the same for Bam.
Add us as a preferred source on Google