Bam Adebayo is the embodiment of Heat culture — and one of the game’s best, most versatile centers today. There’s good reason he will represent the USA in the Paris Olympics starting next month.
There’s also good reason the Heat will offer him a max three-year, $165.8 million contract extension — and he will sign it, reports Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press.
Bam Adebayo intends to sign a three-year extension with the Miami Heat, source tells AP. pic.twitter.com/ldPsdQHH36
— Tim Reynolds (@ByTimReynolds) June 26, 2024
This new extension keeps Adebayo with the Heat for five seasons, the three new years kick in after the two years currently on his deal ($34.9 million next season and $37.1 million in 2025/26). Adebayo and the Heat could negotiate the deal now under the terms of the new CBA but he can’t sign it until after the NBA moratorium ends July 6.
Adebayo, 27, is a First Team All-Defense player who averaged 19.3 points, 10.4 rebounds and 3.9 assists a game last season. He and Jimmy Butler make up the heart of the Heat’s postseason hopes (Butler missed this year’s playoffs due to injury).
Adebayo saved the Heat money by not waiting a year to agree to the extension. If he had done so and made All-NBA next season he could have inked a five-year, $346 million supermax extension. Adebayo chose the bird in the hand and the security of a deal with the team he wants to be on in the city he wants to live in.
Bam Adebayo is extending a year earlier than he could have. His three-year 30% max extension projects look like this:
— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) June 26, 2024
26-27: $51,183,000
27-28: $55,277,640
28-29: $59,372,280
Total: three years, $165,832,920
Had Adebayo delayed until next summer, he could have signed a…
Adebayo did the Heat a favor with this team-friendly deal. He took care of them. He also gets back on the market in his early 30s for one more contract.
