Bam Adebayo

Olympic Notes: Second Unit, Durant, Edwards, George, Serbia, James, 3×3 Team

August 1st, 2024 at 10:57am CST by Dana Gauruder

Team USA discovered a stellar second unit that accounted for 60 of the reserves’ 66 points in its 103-86 win over South Sudan on Wednesday. Kevin Durant, Anthony Edwards, Jrue Holiday, Derrick White and Bam Adebayo comprised that group. The offensive output was matched by that unit’s defensive versatility, Sam Amick of The Athletic notes.

“That lineup was incredible,” Durant said. “You know, when you can switch a lot of different things, and keep the ball in front of you, don’t worry about over helping at all. We’re just (out there) talking to each other. There were some high-IQ defensive players out there. When you can throw that lineup out there, it’s fun. That’s when you don’t have to run offense when you can get stops and go and play in transition. And that’s basketball to me.”

Edwards is enjoying the experience of pairing up with Durant off the bench in the Olympics.

“I love that he’s coming off the bench. I get to play with him, so I hope coach keeps bringing him off the bench,” he said with a smile. “I get to pass it to him. He gets to pass it back. That’s probably one of my biggest dreams ever, so that’s dope. …We’ve got a great group of 12 guys. So it doesn’t matter who’s playing. It doesn’t matter who’s starting. It doesn’t matter who’s finishing the game.”

We have more on the Paris Olympics:

Paul George said on Carmelo Anthony’s podcast (video link) that he believed he’d been chosen to play for Team USA after a conversation with coach Steve Kerr. Team USA managing director Grant Hill informed him during the NBA playoffs he wouldn’t be on the 12-man roster. “I was looking forward to representing the USA and being part of the team,” George said.
Serbia bounced back from its opening loss to Team USA with a 107-66 romp past Puerto Rico. Now the Serbians face a pivotal game against South Sudan on Saturday in their final group play matchup. “Great opponent,” Bogdan Bogdanovic said of South Sudan, per Kyle Hightower of The Associated Press. “They started the tournament well. They played with great confidence. It’s going to be a tough game. We need to come out with the same energy we had (Wednesday) and to fight.”
LeBron James surpassed the 300-point mark in the Olympics on Wednesday, joining Durant and Anthony as the only Team USA members to reach that career mark. It wasn’t a big deal for James, Aris Barkas of Eurohoops.net relays. “Oh, not much,” James said of the milestone. “I mean, at the end of the day, I just want to, you know, win. I mean, I’m here to win and win the gold, and that’s my only mindset.”
The U.S. men’s 3×3 basketball team dropped to 0-2 in pool play with a 19-17 loss to Poland on Wednesday. Canyon Barry, son of Hall of Famer Rick Barry, had six points for the Americans. “We’re just not making shots,” Barry said, per The Associated Press. “That’s what it comes down to. We had a lot of good looks and they just didn’t fall tonight.”

Team USA Notes: South Sudan, Adebayo, Embiid, Holiday, Tatum, Ivey

July 31st, 2024 at 7:17pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Team USA nearly lost to South Sudan in an exhibition game. It was a much different story at the Paris Olympics on Wednesday, as the Americans secured a 103-86 victory and clinched a berth into the quarterfinals.

Canada, France and Germany have also advanced to the quarterfinals. Puerto Rico is the only team that has been officially eliminated.

“It’s not the goal,” Anthony Davis said of making the quarterfinals, per Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press. “It does give us a sense of satisfaction as far as being able to play next week. But there’s a lot that we can get better at, a lot that we can clean up, and we’ll use Saturday’s game against Puerto Rico to tighten the screws again and then just see where it takes us from there.”

Bam Adebayo was Team USA’s leading scorer with 18 points and Kevin Durant, coming off his dominant outing in the opening win over Serbia, added 14.

We have more on Team USA:

Adebayo received extended minutes because coach Steve Kerr gave Joel Embiid the night off, Brian Windhorst of ESPN notes. Jayson Tatum, who never left the bench against Serbia, was in the starting lineup. Jrue Holiday came off the bench after starting the opener, while Davis replaced Embiid in the starting five. Embiid and Holiday will return to the lineup against Puerto Rico. “We have an embarrassment of riches on this roster, that’s the best way to put it,” Kerr said. “I mean these guys are all champions, All-Stars, Hall of Famers, however you want to put it. So the whole thing is are we committed to the goal? That’s it.”
Tatum wasn’t upset about getting benched in the opener, Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe tweets. “It’s a unique situation and it’s not about one individual player,” Tatum said. “The competitor in you wants to play, obviously. But I’m not here to make a story, making it about myself. We won. I was just glad to get back out there and play again today. There was a lot of chatter over the last few days but I was in good spirits, I had a good attitude about it. I’m not holding any grudges or anything.”
South Sudan coach and Rockets assistant Royal Ivey anticipated that Team USA wouldn’t overlook his team again, Donatas Urbonas of BasketNews writes. “In London, they weren’t prepared for us. We came there and tried to hit them on the chin, but we almost had a knockout. And now, this time, they were prepared,” Ivey said. “They were ready for the punches we threw. They blocked them, and they threw haymakers at us. And that’s a fight for you.”

Southeast Notes: Hornets, Adebayo, Jovic, Gill, Wizards

July 29th, 2024 at 10:40pm CST by Tristan Tucker

The Hornets have largely done well for themselves this offseason, retaining some players, drafting Tidjane Salaun , and adding Josh Green for cheap.

They still have one standard roster spot open and Roderick Boone of The Charlotte Observer predicts that spot will remain open until closer to the start of the season. It would make sense for the Hornets to wait for roster cuts if there’s no one on the market they wish to reward with a standard deal and see if they can claim a talented young player on waivers. Boone thought summer league standout Mouhamadou Gueye might compete for a two-way deal, but the Hornets are reportedly filling their final such deal with Moussa Diabate.

Boone’s mailbag also checks in on the rest of the team, including the health of center Mark Williams. Boone opines that adding a power forward/center would be a wise option if Williams isn’t ready to go for the start of the season, since Nick Richards is the only true backup there, while Taj Gibson could fill in in an emergency.

As for Green, Boone says he’s currently penciled in to play two-guard position, but coach Charles Lee doesn’t want to pigeonhole him into a specific role until he’s spent more time with the roster.

We have more from the Southeast Division:

The Heat‘s Bam Adebayo is participating in his second Olympics after winning gold in Tokyo in 2021. He played 20 minutes off the bench and recorded four points, two rebounds and two assists on Sunday vs. Serbia, Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald observes. While he didn’t score much, Adebayo held the task of guarding Nikola Jokic in the team’s first Olympic outing. Adebayo’s found success off the bench alongside Anthony Davis for Team USA.
The Heat had a second player in the Olympic opener, with Nikola Jovic suiting up for Serbia. The 21-year-old had five points and two rebounds in his first Olympic experience of his career, Chiang writes. He took a starting role for Miami and is expected to be a big part of their future moving forward. In his matchup against Team USA, his primary assignment was LeBron James on both ends.
The Wizards signed Anthony Gill to a two-year, minimum-salary ($4.78MM) contract, Michael Scotto of HoopsHype tweets. The deal is fully guaranteed for 2024/25 and is non-guaranteed for ’25/26. Gill has appeared in 179 games with the Wizards since 2020 but only averages 9.9 minutes for the only team he’s called home in the league. The Wizards like Gill, signing Virginia product to three standard deals so far.
Following the addition of Gill, it’s even more clear the Wizards aren’t done making moves this offseason. As Spotrac’s Keith Smith observes (Twitter link), the team has 17 players on standard contracts, with only Jared Butler and Eugene Omoruyi on non-guaranteed deals. While their decision-making could be as simple as waiving both players, they have a need at point guard, where Butler showed flashes last season and they value Omoruyi. Other players could be on the move as the offseason wears on.

Team USA Notes: Ceiling, Serbia Win Takeaways, Embiid, Holiday, White

July 29th, 2024 at 5:34pm CST by Tristan Tucker

On paper, the U.S. Olympic men’s team looks like one of the best collections of talent since 1992, The Athletic’s Joe Vardon writes while pondering the team’s upside.

“I don’t know if Magic, Michael and Larry, if they coined that [nickname] themselves and walked around calling themselves the Dream Team or if that was the nickname that fans and media gave them, [but] I feel like we’re going to have the same vibe,” Stephen Curry said of how this year’s team compares to the Dream Team.

The Americans certainly looked the part in their blowout win over Serbia on Sunday, but it wasn’t smooth sailing up to that point. The U.S. almost lost to Germany and South Sudan in consecutive exhibition games. As Vardon writes, it’s a testament to how the talent around the world has grown. When the 1992 team competed, only nine other players outside of the U.S. team were in the NBA. This year, an Olympic-record 47 athletes are in the NBA and 35 more have at least some league experience.

“It’s the strongest field ever,” U.S. coach Steve Kerr said. “The game gets better and better globally, more and more NBA players, but also teams are more and more comfortable playing against us, and so we know that every game’s going to be difficult and we have to prepare for that and be ready because these teams are coming after us.”

While the Americans look like the favorite for the gold medal, Vardon cautions that it’s far from a guarantee. In a similar piece, The Ringer’s Michael Pina writes that Team USA’s low three-point rate is seemingly one of the team’s only weaknesses.

We have more from the U.S. Olympic team:

Kevin Durant‘s near-perfect game against Serbia highlighted their 110-84 win. LeBron James‘ 23-point, nine-assist and seven-rebound game showed that the U.S. team should continue to rely on its older guys, Jason Jones of The Athletic writes in a takeaways piece from the first game. Jones also contemplates whether Joel Embiid should continue to start, writing that Kerr may simply just like the effective frontcourt pairing of Bam Adebayo and Anthony Davis off the bench. Jones also observes Jayson Tatum and Tyrese Haliburton picking up DNPs in the first game and ponders if Kerr’s rotation choices will be consistent or fluctuate on a matchup basis.
Embiid had a rough showing in his first official Team USA outing, Mike Sielski of The Philadelphia Inquirer writes. He finished with four points and two rebounds in just over 11 minutes and didn’t seem 100%. His decision to play for Team USA over France earned him boos from the crowd in Paris and Sielski wonders — even if he was hampered with an injury or illness — if adapting his game benefits either him or his team. Embiid is one of the best players in the world but he has always been the featured player on his teams and may be taking more of a backseat on the Olympic squad, Sielski writes.
Jrue Holiday and Derrick White played similar roles in the team’s first game as they do for the reigning-champion Celtics, Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe writes. Both players complement star-filled rosters on either team and often take the task of guarding the opposing team’s best player. “It makes it easy for me and Jrue,” White said. “We just try to go out there and do what we do and try to help us impact winning whenever we can. I know we’ve got a lot of talented guys on the team.”

Heat Notes: Adebayo, Ware, Larsson, Christopher

July 28th, 2024 at 9:05am CST by Arthur Hill

Bam Adebayo has a chance to become the first player ever to win multiple Olympic gold medals as a member of the Heat, writes Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. Adebayo, who was the starting center for Team USA three years ago in Tokyo, is coming off the bench this time around. He has teamed with Anthony Davis as part of a successful double-big combination during exhibition play.

“I’m not there to go get 30 points,” Adebayo said. “Obviously, we have enough people out there to get 30. But my role is bigger than that. Just being one of the leaders, being one of the guys who over-communicates, the defensive anchor and being able to put guys in the right positions where they can be successful.”

Adebayo’s future in Miami is secure after signing a three-year max extension this summer, Chiang adds. He’s already among the franchise leaders in career points, assists and steals and he’s on pace to eventually pass Udonis Haslem as the Heat’s top all-time rebounder.

“Going into year eight, you think about how fast it goes,” Adebayo said. “Every year, I just sit there and reflect about where I started when I got drafted to being a potential two-time Olympic [gold medalist] and being able to have a chance to defend the gold. It really puts it in perspective for me and just being blessed to have these opportunities.”

There’s more on the Heat:

First-round pick Kel’el Ware was one of the stars of the Las Vegas Summer League, earning first-team honors while helping Miami capture the title, Chiang states in a separate story. The rookie center was dominant around the rim, averaging 18 points, 8.3 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game while shooting 61.8% from the field. Ware believes he can be effective playing alongside Adebayo instead of just being his backup. “Me and Bam can definitely play beside each other because we complement each other so well,” he said. “His position is really the four and so me coming in as the five man, I can protect the paint and just being able to do what I always do.”
Pelle Larsson shot 42.7% from three-point range last season at Arizona, but the Heat view him as more than just a long-distance marksman, Chiang adds in another piece. His talents as a ball-handler and defender were also on display during Summer League. “I think it could be a misconception if you just look at the stats and you see 40% from three,” Larsson said. “But if you actually watch film and look into the games, you can see that being a well-rounded defender on and off the ball is kind of my strength and just playing within the team. By playing within the team and playing with good players, they’re going to find you for open shots and you’re going to get advantages just from that.”
After his breakout performance at Summer League, Josh Christopher urged the NBA to get serious about expansion, per Ira Winderman of The Sun-Sentinel. A first-round pick in 2021, Christopher was stuck in the G League all of last season. “It’s time for a couple of expansion teams, man. Come on NBA,” he said. “I know I’m one of the little fish in the sea, but come one, it’s time for more teams, with so much talent in the G League. Honestly, it’s the second-best league in the world, if you ask me.”

Southeast Notes: Jovic, Adebayo, Gibson, Morgan, Da Silva

July 20th, 2024 at 5:15pm CST by Arthur Hill

An injury prevented Nikola Jovic from facing Bam Adebayo in Wednesday’s exhibition game between Serbia and the U.S., but the Heat teammates are hoping to square off when the countries meet again July 28 in their Olympics opener, writes Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. Jovic is making progress in his recovery from a sprained left ankle and fractured toe that has sidelined him throughout the pre-Olympic process, Chiang adds, and there’s optimism he’ll be ready to return by next weekend.

“I think it would have been a great moment for me and Niko to play against each other,” Adebayo said after Wednesday’s meeting. “I’m definitely going to reach out to him, check up on him. I want him to get healthy because he’s on the good side. Need him to get healthy for the season.”

Jovic suffered the injury while participating in a drill at Miami’s Kaseya Center last month. A source tells Chiang that the Heat are confident he’ll be fully recovered by the time training camp begins in early October.

There’s more from the Southeast Division:

After signing a one-year deal with the Hornets, Taj Gibson is looking forward to being a veteran leader with a new organization. In an interview with Roderick Boone of The Charlotte Observer, Gibson talks about imparting the knowledge that he has picked up during his 15 NBA seasons. “It was very special for me coming in, because I came into the league in an era when we had multiple veterans on our team that taught you how to be a professional, how to look out for your teammates, how to be tough,” Gibson said. “There were times I would look at the bench and the vets would always give me that look or give me that dinner after a tough game. And it was really beneficial for my career because my career was able to go a long distance.”
Matt Morgan‘s perfect shooting night in the Summer League will give him more attention as he tries to land a two-way NBA contract or a new deal in Europe, per Eurohoops. The Hornets guard, who played for the London Lions last season, made all 11 of his shots from the field, including seven three-pointers, in Friday’s win over Portland.
First-round pick Tristan Da Silva has teamed with last year’s first-rounders Anthony Black and Jett Howard to give the Magic a formidable Summer League trio, observes Josh Cohen of NBA.com. Da Silva believes getting minutes alongside Black and Howard will be beneficial once the season starts, and he complimented team officials for easing his transition into the NBA. “They make it really easy,” he said. “They welcomed me with open arms since day one. Great people, great organization, easy to be around and easy to connect with. From a basketball standpoint, I feel like a lot of the stuff that we did in college (at the University of Colorado) is also applicable to the NBA level from a concept standpoint. So, I feel really comfortable out there.”

Olympic Notes: Durant, Team USA, Jokic, Murray

July 19th, 2024 at 3:57pm CST by Rory Maher

Suns star Kevin Durant, who is recovering from a strained calf, participated in Team USA’s practice in London on Friday, per Shams Charania and Joe Vardon of The Athletic. It was the first time Durant has practiced with the team ahead of the 2024 Olympics in Paris.

The United States will face South Sudan on Saturday and Germany on Monday in its last pre-Olympic tune-up games. Durant is day-to-day and is considered questionable to play in those contests.

“I’m going to see how I feel after practice today,” Durant said.

Here are some more notes ahead of the Olympics, which begin next week:

Team USA has gone 3-0 in exhibition contests vs. Canada, Australia and Serbia thus far. While the Americans’ roster is brimming with talent and skill, and their record is unblemished in unofficial games, not everything has been clicking so far, particularly the awkward fit of Joel Embiid, according to Michael Pina of The Ringer. Embiid is used to being the center of his team’s offense, but he has looked out of sorts playing under a different set of rules and with a reduced role, Pina observes. On the other hand, the team’s defense — led by Anthony Davis and Bam Adebayo — has been extremely impressive ahead of the Olympics, says Pina.
Three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic undoubtedly raises the ceiling of the Serbian national team, but participating in international events for his home country also comes with increased scrutiny, as Bennett Durando of The Denver Post writes. “It’s a big burden, because it’s kind of like, he’s the best basketball player in the world,” said Nuggets assistant Ognjen Stojakovic, who has coached for Serbia since last summer. “People identify themselves with athletes and sports. They all have high expectations, especially for the national team. … There’s so much pressure on Nikola to play. And not just Nikola, for every athlete to play in all those big competitions.” Serbia is in Group C, alongside the U.S., South Sudan and Puerto Rico.
Nuggets guard Jamal Murray was held out of Canada’s exhibition game vs. France on Friday, tweets Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca. The Canadian national team said Murray was rested for precautionary reasons. The 27-year-old battled a left calf strain and a right elbow injury during the playoffs, but Denver was eliminated from contention more than two months ago.
In case you missed it, Suns forward/center Bol Bol will miss the Olympics for South Sudan due to personal reasons.

Heat’s Bam Adebayo Signs Three-Year Max Extension

July 6th, 2024 at 6:08pm CST by Dana Gauruder

JULY 6: Adebayo has officially signed his maximum-salary extension with the Heat, the team announced in a press release. It includes a player option for the 2028/29 season, tweets Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald.

JUNE 26: Heat big man Bam Adebayo intends to sign a three-year contract extension, Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press reports (Twitter link). It’ll be a maximum-salary extension, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets.

Adebayo has two years left on his contract. He’s due to make $34,848,340 next season and $37,096,620 in 2025/26. The extension would take the 26-year-old through the 2028/29 season. He can sign the deal on July 6, by league rule, according to Reynolds.

Adebayo averaged 19.3 points, 10.4 rebounds and 3.9 assists per game this past season. His value goes well beyond offensive numbers. The Heat star has made the NBA’s All-Defensive team in each of the last five seasons, earning a First Team selection for the first time in 2023/24.

Adebayo could have waited until next offseason with the hope of making an All-NBA team or winning Defensive Player of the Year. In that scenario, he would have become eligible for a five-year super-max extension worth as much as $346MM, cap expert Yossi Gozlan notes (Twitter link).

Assuming a $141MM cap in 2024/25, with 10% raises in each of the next two seasons, Adebayo would earn a $51,183,000 in 2026/27; $55,277,640 in ’27/28; and $59,372,280 in ’28/29, for a total of $165,832,920.

While those salary numbers are eye-popping, Adebayo could have been eligible for even bigger salaries had he delayed an extension with the aim of making an All-NBA team, so this could turn out to be a team-friendly deal. Adebayo, who turns 27 next month, has spent his entire seven-year career with Miami.

Heat Notes: Martin, Adebayo, Two-Ways, Swider

July 4th, 2024 at 8:23pm CST by Luke Adams

Before he officially passed on his $7.1MM player option for the 2024/25 season, the Heat offered Caleb Martin an extension that would have been contingent on him picking up that option, according to Barry Jackson and Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. While the exact details of that offer are unclear, Miami could have given Martin a starting salary as high as about $18.1MM in 2025/26 based on the NBA’s rules for veteran extensions.

The Heat haven’t given up hope of retaining Martin, but they’re only about $7MM below the second apron and have no desire to surpass that threshold, so their ability to make a competitive offer is extremely limited. Although the club could technically come close to matching the $7.1MM option the 28-year-old declined for 2024/25, that significant raise for ’25/26 is no longer possible, since free agent contracts can’t increase by more than 8% annually.

A source close to Martin tells the Miami Herald duo that the forward had been hoping to secure a deal worth more than $15MM per year. While some teams have expressed interest, it doesn’t appear that any offers in that range are on the table for Martin at this point.

Here’s more on the Heat:

It has been a fairly quiet offseason for the Heat so far, but that’s not because the team is reluctant to spend up to the second apron or use assets in trades, according to Jackson and Chiang. Three people who have been in contact with the team say Miami is maintaining its flexibility for now in case an opportunity to acquire an impact player opens up — it’s possible that sort of player could hit the trade market in the coming days or weeks, and the Heat don’t want to close the door on that possibility.
The Heat have had some trade talks with teams, including one club with “substantial” cap room, according to Jackson and Chiang. The Herald reporters don’t have details on the potential trade partner or the players who were discussed, but the Jazz and Pistons are the only clubs who still have the sort of cap room that could be considered substantial.
Bam Adebayo intends to sign the three-year contract extension that he and the Heat agreed to last week “pretty quickly” after he becomes eligible to do so on Saturday, per Jackson and Chiang. The deal will tack on three years to the two seasons left on Adebayo’s current contract and will run through 2028/29. If the cap increases by 10% in each of the next two offseasons, the star center would earn $165,348,864 on the three-year extension after making a total of $71,944,960 across the next two seasons.
In a separate story for The Herald, Chiang explores the Heat’s two-way logjam, with Dru Smith, Zyon Pullin, and Keshad Johnson currently occupying the three slots and two-way qualifying offers still out to Cole Swider and Alondes Williams. If Miami wants to bring all five players to camp, at least two would have to be there on standard or Exhibit 10 deals. Swider, who is part of the Heat’s Summer League roster, says he’s focused on developing his game, not his contract situation. “Obviously, the Heat have my rights as a restricted free agent,” Swider said. “I want to be here. But at the same time, it’s all up to the things that I can control and I’m going to bring the energy, the effort and try to lead this summer league team to have a great summer league.”

Southeast Rumors: Shamet, T. Jones, Adebayo, Martin, Hawks, Buzelis

June 24th, 2024 at 3:47pm CST by Luke Adams

Wizards wing Landry Shamet has been the subject of exploratory trade interest from a number of teams around the NBA, according to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype, who identifies the Clippers, Lakers, Mavericks, Jazz, Raptors, and Magic as possible suitors.

Shamet has historically been a reliable three-point threat, having entered last season with a career 38.8% rate from beyond the arc. However, he made just 33.8% of his tries last season while averaging a career-low 15.8 minutes per game. Still, Scotto says that if Shamet remains in D.C., the club is leaning toward guaranteeing his $11MM salary for 2024/25. That figure is fully non-guaranteed for now, as is his $11.75MM salary for ’25/26.

Here’s more from around the Southeast:

While the Wizards‘ decision to hang onto point guard Tyus Jones through the 2024 trade deadline suggested they’d like to re-sign him as a free agent this summer, rival executives are monitoring the situation to see if he’ll be a sign-and-trade candidate, sources tell Scotto.
Confirming a pair of items that don’t come as any surprise, Scotto says the Heat are expected to have contract extension discussions with star big man Bam Adebayo this offseason and that forward Caleb Martin is expected to decline his $7.1MM player option in search of a more lucrative payday as a free agent, either in Miami or elsewhere.
The Hawks brought in projected top-10 pick Matas Buzelis on Sunday for a pre-draft workout, a source tells Jonathan Wasserman of Bleacher Report (Twitter link). Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer, who confirms the news of Buzelis’ workout, says it signals that Atlanta continues to evaluate all its options in the lottery, including trading down from No. 1. Buzelis has been most frequently linked to Detroit at No. 5.
After he spent the 2023/24 season coaching the College Park Skyhawks – Atlanta’s G League affiliate – Ryan Schmidt is expected to move to the Hawks‘ bench for the 2024/25 season, Scotto reports, adding that Hawks assistant Steven Klei is a candidate to become the Skyhawks’ head coach.

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