The Miami Heat and six-time All-Star guard Jimmy Butler are in the midst of a standoff that resulted in him being punished with a seven-game suspension from a franchise that has historically has no interest in the spotlight unless it’s about winning. While the suspension ends Thursday, the trade request lives on for an unmoved Butler.
Meanwhile, Heat center Bam Adebayo has been putting his long arms around his team in hopes of keeping the focus on winning games.
“Everybody needs somebody to look at,” said Adebayo to Andscape recently. “They need that voice, that one voice where we get in the trenches and it gets dark. People lose direction. You need somebody to be that enforcer to understand that we can still win. We still have enough.
“We can’t let this season go to s— for the young guys. I look at ’em because young guys are trying to get a job. Guys are trying to be something in this league and it’s like you can’t let the outside noise distract that. But for me, it’s really getting everybody at the same page and understand that we can still win.”
Butler has averaged 21.1 points, 6.1 rebounds and 5.7 assists with the Heat over six seasons while making three All-Star appearances and leading the franchise to two NBA Finals. The Heat suspended Butler on Jan. 3 for “multiple incidents of conduct detrimental to the team.” He will lose $2.3 million during the suspension that is projected to keep him out until Jan. 17 against the Denver Nuggets. Butler told Heat president Pat Riley he still wants to be traded, has no plans of signing an extension with the franchise and could use his $52 million player option next season as a trade maneuver, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania. The Heat previously said in a statement that they are open to trading Butler, but nothing appears imminent with the Feb. 6 trade deadline looming.
Stuck in the middle is Adebayo, the longest tenured Heat player at eight seasons. Adebayo, a close friend of Butler’s, has aspirations of being a Heat lifer.
“You understand that his business at the end of the day, and I’ll leave it at that,” Adebayo said. “J.B. [Butler] is one of my guys. So, for me, we give him space and we let him and management handle it, get involved in that. We worry about getting these wins because at the end of the day, whatever happens with him and the management, somebody still got to play these games.
“You still got to go out there and win. That’s the best thing for us to get our mind off of that situation. Go out here and get some wins.”
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The Heat enter Wednesday’s game against the Los Angeles Lakers with a 20-18 record. Miami is also 3-3 since Butler’s suspension. Adebayo sat out of Monday’s loss to the Los Angeles Clippers with lower back pain caused from a fall against the Portland Trail Blazers on Jan. 11.
With Butler out, Heat guard Tyler Herro credited Adebayo for showing “a lot of leadership.”
“We all lean on him. He has continued to carry us as a leader in the locker room and a voice,” Herro said. “He has always been that for us. The last couple of weeks he has really stepped up in that regard. And just leading on the court, on both ends, being the anchor on defense and sticking with everything he is doing offensively.”
The Heat drafted Adebayo with the 14th overall pick in the 2017 NBA draft out of the University of Kentucky. Adebayo has averaged 15.4 points, 8.8 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game during his NBA career. The 6-foot-9, 255-pounder is also one of the league’s best defenders — a five-time NBA All-Defensive team selection — and a two-time Olympic gold medalist with USA Basketball.
While Adebayo’s leadership is now being recognized, he also acknowledged that he wished he was respected more by media and fans. Adebayo’s game isn’t regularly featured in highlights or on social media. He is third on the Heat in scoring per game behind Butler and Herro, and in the most recent NBA All-Star balloting, Adebayo didn’t make the top 10 among NBA Eastern Conference frontcourt players.
“I get respect from my peers,” Adebayo said. “To me, that’s what matters when you have respect for your peers. The guys that are in the league with you, when they mention your name, it’s positive or something where it’s like, ‘No, he’s this, he’s that.’ And that’s what I find gratifying. I can’t control media.”
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The Eastern Conference coaches will decide whether Adebayo will be named an All-Star again as a reserve. The NBA All-Star Game starters will be revealed on Jan. 23 and the reserves, selected by coaches in their respective conferences, will be announced on Jan. 30.
Whether it’s his coach or others in the NBA, Adebayo is strongly respected. The Heat had three leaders who set the business tone for the franchise in Alonzo Mourning, Dwyane Wade and Udonis Haslem. Now, Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra sees Adebayo as the franchise’s current “torchbearer.”
“It goes without saying what he means to the franchise, what he means to the city,” Spoelstra said. “You know he’s the next caretaker, torchbearer for our organization, and it’s because he’s about all the right things… It’s about winning. He’ll sacrifice, he’ll do the dirty work. I think he was arguably one of everyone’s favorite teammates this summer [in Paris] because he took on all the challenges defensively, he facilitated, got everybody involved. He played a great role; that’s why he has two gold medals, been to the Finals twice.”
Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr coached Adebayo with USA Basketball during the 2024 Paris Olympics. Kerr told his coaching staff prior to the Warriors’ 114-98 loss to the Heat on Jan. 7 that “everybody should be lucky enough to coach Bam.”
“This guy is just an amazing,” Kerr said. “His work ethic, his intelligence, his energy, and then ultimately his dedication to the team and to the cause. He’s so professional and just an absolute joy to coach.”
“I’ve always loved basketball. It’s brought me to so many places. As you can see, it’s changed my family life. It just changed my life, and I’m blessed.”
– Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo
Perhaps part of the joy of coaching to Adebayo is his love and appreciation for the game of basketball. He says basketball routed his life in the right direction, helped improve the life of his family members and allowed him to visit the world. After being mentored by the likes of Wade and Haslem, Adebayo feels it is his responsibility to mentor the young Heat players that now respectfully call him “O.G.”
“Almost at 10 years now for me, man,” Adebayo, 27, said. “It’s your responsibility to help these young fellas bank equity, understand what they’re trying to achieve. That to me, that brings you a lot of joy when you’re helping the rookies or one-, two-year players, and they look up to you. It’s crazy that they call me ‘O.G.’…
“But basketball has got me out of a lot of sticky situations. Just being one of those kids who didn’t have a lot, didn’t have an outlet, didn’t know where his life was going to go when this orange basketball changes my life for the better. So, I’ve always loved basketball. It’s brought me to so many places. As you can see, it’s changed my family life. It just changed my life, and I’m blessed.”
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Spoelstra, who was a USA Basketball assistant coach in Paris, said: “I treasure the relationship that I’ve been able to develop with Bam, from the beginning as a 19-year-old to now. With all those accomplishments, and this summer was probably the most enjoyable, I was able to develop a different relationship with him, a lot less stress. There was a lot of pressure, but it wasn’t a head coach/player relationship. It wasn’t an assistant coach [relationship], more of a friend-type of relationship. That was so much fun and something I’ll treasure the rest of my career.”
Adebayo loves Miami, from the franchise to the people to the city. He acknowledged that he could see himself wearing only one NBA jersey his entire career. He also is dreaming about having his No. 13 jersey retired one day by the Heat.
As for having a statue outside the arena like Wade, Adebayo says he needs to win an NBA title or two for Miami like the Basketball Hall of Famer.
“I think about this city, man, how much love they’ve shown me,” Adebayo said. “But what also creeps in my mind is when I start seeing my name just pass somebody for third, just pass somebody for fourth, you start creeping up and my goal was I want to be top three, top two, even one in all categories in Heat history. So, for me to do that, I got to be here long enough. I’ve been here eight years and looking forward to continuing being here.
“Do I deserve a statue? You dream of that. Obviously, that comes with championships, all other good stuff. But I do dream of seeing my jersey in the rafters.”