The Heat have officially signed former Kentucky big man Bam Adebayo to his rookie contract, the team announced today in a press release. Adebayo was the 14th overall pick in last week’s draft.
Because the NBA’s new Collective Bargaining Agreement calls for cap holds for unsigned first-round picks to count for 120% of their rookie scale amount rather than 100%, there’s now little reason for teams to wait to sign their first-rounders. As such, I expect we’ll see most of them signed earlier this year than they have been in the past. Adebayo is the first to make it official.
As the No. 14 pick, Adebayo will likely receive a contract worth $14,015,772 over four years. He’ll earn about $2.49MM in 2017/18, as our chart of rookie scale salaries shows. Those figures are based on Adebayo receiving the maximum allowable 120% of the rookie scale amount.
This dude could play the 4 alongside Whiteside, I like his potential.