Adebayo hasn’t spoken with Antetokounmpo about extensions
The Miami Heat’s matchup against the Milwaukee Bucks will feature superstar forward Giannis Antetokounmpo. But the 2021 free agent class won’t.
What does that mean for Tuesday’s game between the Heat and Bucks at AmericanAirlines Arena?
What would have been a night filled with speculation about Antetokounmpo potentially joining the Heat as a free agent next offseason is simply a night for two of the best teams in the Eastern Conference to face off. Instead of choosing to become a free agent at the end of this season, the two-time reigning MVP opted to sign a five-year, $228 million supermax extension with the Bucks earlier this month.
Even before Antetokounmpo’s decision, the Heat likely wouldn’t have had outright cap space for a max free agent like Antetokounmpo this upcoming offseason anyway after signing All-Star center
Bam Adebayo to a max contract extension last month. Miami signed Adebayo to a five-year, $163 million contract extension, which could end up being worth as much as $195 million.
“We get to hoop,” Adebayo said before Tuesday’s game against the Bucks. “All the other distractions are out of the way and we know the final product. That’s what it is. There’s no complications to that. He picked what he had to do. I did what I had to do, and our agent made it happen for both of us.”
Adebayo and Antetokounmpo share the same agent, Alex Saratsis. The Heat was expected to be one of the many teams that aggressively pursued Antetokounmpo in free agency.
Miami would have to trade for Antetokounmpo if it wants to add him to its roster any time soon. But Antetokounmpo can’t be traded for the first year after signing his extension.
While Antetokounmpo is off the board, the list of those who could potentially become free agents in 2021 includes Victor Oladipo, Kawhi Leonard and Jrue Holiday, among others.
Adebayo said he did not speak with Antetokounmpo after they signed their extensions. The Heat and the Bucks will face off again Wednesday (7:30 p.m., Fox Sports Sun and
NBA TV) on the back end of their back-to-back twogame “series” in Miami designed to reduce travel during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I will say we have communicated before, but not after a contract extension,” Adebayo said. “That’s the time to be with your family and enjoy that moment.”
HOMETOWN LOVE?
Heat guard Tyler Herro is a Milwaukee native. He attended Whitnall High School, which is in Greenfield, Wisconsin, and his family still lives in the Milwaukee area.
But Herro, 20, isn’t loved by everybody back home.
It started when Herro decommitted from Wisconsin to attend Kentucky as a coveted high school prospect, and then he helped the Heat eliminate his hometown Bucks in the
second round of last season’s playoffs.
“I would probably say that they don’t like me too much back home,” Herro said with a laugh Monday. “Some people aren’t my biggest fans. But I mean, it doesn’t make it too hard to go back home. I’m just home, so I’m able to go home whenever. But I think, like I said, some people probably don’t have the best feelings toward me.”
TALKING PRACTICE
The Heat just completed its longest scheduled break of the first half of the season, three days after its Christmas Day win over the New Orleans Pelicans on Friday.
The break included two consecutive days of practice on Sunday and Monday in preparation for Tuesday’s game against the Bucks.
“Anytime you have an opportunity to get a couple days of work, you have an opportunity to improve as a team,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said Monday. “Every day, you have opportunities. But when you have quality practice time, which there won’t be an extreme amount more of these as the season goes on, but these are two good days for our team.”
With more games in fewer days as part of this season’s condensed schedule, Miami has two consecutive scheduled off days between games only two more times during the first half of the regular season: Saturday and Sunday, and Jan. 7-8.
The Heat is not expected to practice again until Sunday.