Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Adebayo locked in for 3rd season
Move means he will earn $3.5M for 2019-20
MIAMI — The Miami Heat on Wednesday exercised their third-year option on Bam Adebayo, a move that not only locks the center into a $3.5 million salary for 2019-20, but also keeps him under team control for at least one additional season.
Faced with an Oct. 15 deadline for the decision, the Heat instead made the move in advance of the Sept. 25 start of training camp, with Adebayo coming off a solid rookie season after being the No. 14 pick out of Kentucky in the
2017 NBA draft.
With the move, the
Heat retain the right to next summer lock
Adebayo into a $5.1 million salary for
2020-21, a decision that could be complicated by the team’s ability to clear significant cap space that summer for a significant free-agent addition. Should the Heat pick up Adebayo’s 2020-21 option, they then could offer him an extension that would begin in 2021.
Retaining youthful talent could stand as a priority for the Heat, with the team’s 2021 unprotected first-round pick due to the Philadelphia 76ers, with it having been dealt to the Phoenix Suns in the 2015 trade for guard Goran Dragic.
The Heat’s other rookie-scale decision this preseason is whether to offer an extension to 2015 first-round pick Justise Winslow by that Oct. 15 deadline. Winslow otherwise would become a restricted free agent next summer. The Heat last summer offered an extension to 2015 second-round pick Josh Richardson that begins this season.
Displaying versatility that allowed coach Erik Spoelstra to play him at power forward, Adebayo appeared in 69 games last season, making 19 starts. He averaged 6.9 points, 5.5 rebounds, 1.5 assists in 19.8 minutes, shooting .512 from the field. He ranked fourth among rookies in field-goal percentage, sixth in rebounds per game and ninth in blocks per game, with his 41 blocked shots the fourthhighest total by a Heat rookie.
Although a crowded power rotation with Hassan Whiteside, Kelly Olynyk and James Johnson at times limited Adebayo’s playing time, Spoelstra said the exposure in a playoff race and then the first-round series against the Philadelphia 76ers and Joel Embiid fast tracked Adebayo’s development.
“To have a 21-year-old experience the ferocity and the intensity and the level of detail of a playoff series against a great player, for Bam to be able to experience that is worth its weight in gold,” Spoelstra said.
The Heat then worked with Adebayo in more of a ballhandling role during summer league, again emphasizing perimeter scoring.
“Man, I’m a basketball player, pretty much,” he said of his versatility. “I just go out there and do what I got to do with this team. Whatever Coach needs me to do, I do.”
Among Adebayo’s rookie highlights was a 16-point, 15-rebound performance while blocking five shots on Jan. 9 against the Toronto Raptors, becoming the second rookie in NBA history to post at least those numbers off the bench (since blocks became an official NBA stat in 1973-74). That effort made him just the fourth Heat player to post a 16-point, 15-rebound, 5-block game, joining Rony Seikaly, Alonzo Mourning and Whiteside.
Adebayo also had 13 points and 13 rebounds in his fourth game (Oct. 30 vs. the Minnesota Timberwolves), the fifth fewest games needed by a Heat rookie to record his first double-double with the team. His 10 offensive boards in that game were the most by a rookie in team history.
Additionally, Adebayo grabbed 16 rebounds on March 14 against the Sacramento Kings, tying the second-most by a rookie in team history. He also shot 7 of 7 from the field on Nov. 28 against the Cleveland Cavaliers to become the only rookie in Heat history to not miss a shot with at least that many attempts.
The athletic 6-foot-10 big man entered the NBA after a single season at Kentucky, when he averaged 13 points, 8 rebounds, 1.50 blocks and 30.1 minutes, while shooting .599 from the field. He was selected to the All-SEC second team and the SEC AllTournament Team after helping the Wildcats win the SEC championship.