4. Adebayo will make an All-NBA team, and then become the highest-paid player in Heat franchise history.
When Jimmy Butler signed a three-year, $146.4 million contract extension in 2021, it marked the most lucrative contract in Heat history. Butler will make as much as $52.4 million in a season in the final year of this extension (2025-26). Bam Adebayo is on the cusp of breaking that record and signing the richest deal in Heat history. The only question is: For how much?
If Adebayo is named to an All-NBA team (or win Defensive Player of the Year, which seems like it is going to Rudy Gobert), he would be eligible to sign a four-year, $245 million supermax extension this summer. If he doesn’t qualify for the supermax, he can sign a three-year, $152 million extension. Either contract would become the largest in Heat history.
Making the All-NBA team will be tough, but it’s possible for Adebayo, who is averaging 20.3 points, 10.5 rebounds, 4.1 assists, 1.1 steals and 1 block per game and was named an All-Star this season. Only four players are averaging at least 20 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and two stocks (blocks plus steals) this season. Three of them are or were MVP candidates: Joel Embiid, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Nikola Jokic. The other is Adebayo.
The new 65-games-played requirement has eliminated or nearly eliminated Jimmy Butler, Embiid and Tyrese Haliburton (can only miss three more).
Assuming health, at least 10 players are locks to make one of the All-NBA teams: Stephen Curry, Luka Doncic, Kevin Durant, Antetokounmpo, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, LeBron James, Jokic, Kawhi Leonard, Donovan Mitchell and Jayson Tatum.
This leaves a pool of about a dozen players to choose from for the final five spots, including Jalen Brunson, Anthony Edwards, Domantas Sabonis, De’Aaron Fox, Anthony Davis, Gobert, Karl-Anthony Towns, Tyrese Maxey, Paul George, Lauri Markkanen and Adebayo.
If the Heat end up with a top-six seed in the East, voters might obligated to get a Heat player on the All-NBA team. With Butler eliminated from consideration, that leaves Adebayo. Even without that caveat, Adebayo has been good enough to warrant being considered one of the best 15 players in the league this season. -- Wes Goldberg