With the NBA offseason set to kick into high gear starting with Wednesday night’s Draft, the Miami Heat have made a big move to secure one of their young stars through the rest of the decade.
On Wednesday, the team agreed on a three-year extension with three-time All-Star center Bam Adebayo.
The Athletic’s Shams Charania had the news first.
The extension is worth $166 million and will run through the 2028-29 season. Adebayo, who is currently preparing to head to Paris to attempt to win his second career gold medal with the US Men’s Basketball team, is coming off a strong season that saw the big man average 19.3 points and a career-high 10.4 rebounds per game.
Those numbers landed Adebayo a First Team All-Defense spot for the first time in his career, and he finished a career-best third in Defensive Player of the Year voting behind Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert and San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama.
The Heat drafted Adebayo with the 14th overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft and have already penned him to a contract extension before this when he signed a five-year deal in 2020. Pat Riley, Erik Spoelstra, and the rest of Miami’s brain trust are very high on the 26-year-old center.
Miami will next decide whether to trade guard/forward Jimmy Butler, who has been the subject of trade rumors since Miami’s first-round loss to the Boston Celtics in the 2024 NBA Playoffs.
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