Bam Adebayo to recieve ‘lucrative’ contract offer from Heat

His contract situation is a bit different as depending on offseason honors from the NBA, the extension could be big, but one of the two options have already been ruled out. One of the ways for Adebayo to be eligible for a supermax contract worth $245 million for four years was to have won Defensive Player of the Year which he was a finalist for, but ended up going to Minnesota Timberwolves star Rudy Gobert.

The other way is to make an All-NBA team whether it’s on the first, second, or third group which is still not a given as while Adebayo is massively talented, there are other exceptional players in the association. If the star doesn’t make it, he will still be eligible for a sizable extension that would be three years, $165 million extension which would start in the 2026-27 season.

Adebayo continues to be one of the best defensive players in the league, arguably the single best based on advanced statistics in terms of opposing field goal percentage and his rare ability to guard any position on the floor. Plus, his offense has seen improvement by the season as he’s developed a presence in the post, in his mid-range game, and even planted seeds this year by showing he could add three-point shooting to his already large arsenal.

Pat Riley talks about the positive growth of Adebayo since joining Heat

One person who has seen the upwards trend in his play is Heat president Pat Riley who spoke at length about Adebayo. During his viral end of season press conference, he told ClutchPoints that his development “has been off the charts” and even compared him to Magic Johnson who he used to coach with the Los Angeles Lakers as he was always looking to improve.

“His growth spurt from his rookie year to what he is right now has been off the charts,” Riley said. “Everybody knows in the league what his game is. They all know what he does for us, how important he is for us in a lot of areas and so he has to expand also his game. I remember in 1986 after we got beat by Houston, Magic came into me and he said we have to change some things, I have to change, I have to start shooting threes. Back when threes weren’t being shot and more than 10 a game, I got to become a better outside shooter and all this.”

“So we put them in pick and rolls and all that stuff in he actually at that time in 86 is already six, seven years in and three championships, he made the changes to become a greater shooter,” Riley continued. “You know a better post up player, baby Skyhook all of a sudden came into it. So bam has to look at his game and sit with Coach and how can he get better and expand his game but he’s at a point right now where you know he’s he’s an all NBA player and we’re happy to have him.”

Adebayo will have an eventful offseason

It will be a busy summer for Adebayo as in the likelihood he gets a big contract extension, he will also travel with Team USA along with Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra to Paris for the Olympics and hoping to get another gold medal. This season, he averaged 19.3 points, 10.4 rebounds, and 3.9 assists per game while shooting 52.1 percent from the field as after Miami was eliminated in the first round of the playoffs, he said it’s jarring to be done this early.

“Man, I got so much time, I don’t even know what to do with it,” Adebayo said to ClutchPoints. “It sounds ridiculous because throughout the season, all we ask for is time. But this is a time where you really just reflect on the season and reflect on what happened. Reflect on yourself and how you can be better and what could have been different.”

Another Heat contract extension with Jimmy Butler

While Adebayo seems to be getting an extension based on reports, his teammate in Butler might have to wait a bit longer. Riley would be noncommittal during his press conference where he said that “we don’t have to do that for a year” as Butler is expected to ask for a two-year extension worth $113 million according to Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald.

“Well, you know, we don’t have to do that for a year and so we have not discussed that internally right now but we have to look at that and then making that kind of commitment,” Riley said. “Okay. And when do we do it? We don’t have to do it until 25 actually, but we’ll see. We haven’t made a decision on it. And we really haven’t really in earnest. discussed it. So we’ll see what happens.”

Riley stresses that player availability will be managed better

Part of the hesitation from Riley seems to be stemmed from his focus on player availability as Butler played 60 games last season, four less than the year prior, especially as he missed the last playoffs with an MCL sprain in the first play-in tourney game. While he also didn’t mention it, it could also be that the star turns 35-years old in September where as compared to Adebayo, he turns 27 in July and entering his prime.

“Well, I mean, if you request we can either accept or we can say we’re going to think about it,” Riley said. “We’ve not made a decision on it and I think you can make too much out of this. You still got two years left on the contract. Theoretically he’s got a player option. But that’s something that we have to give some real thought to based on a lot of factors. I don’t want to go through the litany of factors right now because they all go up into different hypotheticals, but yeah, that’s a big decision on our part to commit those kinds of resources unless your somebody who’s really going to be there and available every single night, that’s the truth.”

There’s no doubt that this summer will be a fascinating offseason for the Heat as they will be trying to figure out the contract situations regarding Adebayo and Butler, but also looking to improve the team from last year which could include bringing in another star. Miami is coming off of back-to-back eighth seed finishes where they were eliminated in the first round of the NBA Playoffs by the hands of their rivals in the Boston Celtics.