The Athletic: A recap of Bam Adebayo's eventful year on and off the court

On and off the court, Bam Adebayo has enjoyed a noteworthy 2026.

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Bam Adebayo continues enjoying a newsworthy year on and off the court.

On March 10, the Miami Heat forward set the basketball world (and Kaseya Center’s nets) ablaze by scoring 83 points against the Washington Wizards, sandwiching himself between Wilt Chamberlain (100) and Kobe Bryant (81) among the highest-scoring games in NBA history. By season’s end, Adebayo had made his sixth career All-Defensive Team, extending his franchise record.

Last month, two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo joined Adebayo via trade to form one of the league’s most potent frontcourts as Miami seeks to snap its four-year streak of Play-In appearances. Last week, Adebayo publicized having asked A’ja Wilson’s father for the four-time WNBA MVP’s hand in marriage, a step toward elevating their

high-profile relationship

.

In short, vibes around Adebayo are rightly high.

“Oh, man, we’re ready to get to work,” Adebayo told the media on Sunday. “The goal is to win a championship. That’s (Antetokounmpo’s) mindset. We have a like mindset when it comes to that. Those conversations are really about winning. … I feel like (Heat team president) Pat (Riley) has been trying to get somebody of that star level for a while, so being able to have that shift change and that change … man, we’re looking for growth, and to obviously win games.”

Adebayo notched a philanthropic win Sunday by securing the NBA’s Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Trophy as the league’s 2025-26 social justice champion. In May, Adebayo beat out Jaylen Brown, Tobias Harris, Harrison Barnes and Larry Nance Jr. for the honor, which acknowledges an active NBA player’s pursuit of “social justice and advancing Abdul-Jabbar’s life mission to engage, empower and drive equality” for historically disadvantaged people. Adebayo’s victorious nod also includes a $100,000 donation to his non-profit, the Bam, Books & Brotherhood Foundation.

“It’s not just a Heat thing,” Adebayo said. “To get this award, obviously, you got to impact a lot of lives, and I feel like I’ve done that over the course of my career. To be able to finally get the award, it’s not a big deal to me because I feel like giving back to the lives is more important, and being able to get recognized for that is good.”

A nine-year NBA veteran, Adebayo, born in Newark, N.J., has centered his philanthropic efforts on educational equity, food security and youth development in South Florida and North Carolina, the latter of which is where he played high school basketball at Northside High in Pinetown, N.C., and then at High Point Christian Academy. After Adebayo was drafted 14th in 2017, his business advisor, Kevin Graves, asked why he wanted to start a foundation and who he sought to aid. Adebayo, who was raised by a “single mother who made it happen,” opened the door for his community work. The early efforts ranged from donating MacBooks, installing wi-fi service, giving 40,000 gifts for holiday toy drives, donating over 4,000 turkeys to families and committing five-figure donations to Uncle Luke’s football team.

Last season, the Heat captain led 18 social-justice endeavors by investing over $563,000 in programs to aid underserved youth and families.

How far did those dollars stretch? Far enough to give mattresses, uniforms and school supplies to students at The SEED School of Miami, fund transportation for over 19,000 attendees at the Miami Book Fair, and create mentorship spaces for students seeking new life opportunities. In a video tribute to Adebayo, Abdul-Jabbar commended his efforts in “educational access, food security, youth mentorship and community progress,” further illustrating the respect Adebayo has earned as a hooper and social-justice advocate. Adebayo credits former Heat teammate Udonis Haslem for helping hone his advocacy efforts.

“You gotta care,” Adebayo said, describing Haslem’s advice on community work. “He’ll tell you he cares in a lot of ways, but he shows up a lot, and that matters in the community. They’re (the fans) people packing our arena. They come to watch us play. The least I can do is give back to them and show them that I care.”

Before accepting the social-justice award, Adebayo was also asked to name his favorite WNBA player, which gave him an opportunity to name Wilson, who publicized their relationship 18 months ago.

Wilson is currently favored to win her fifth MVP award, which would extend her WNBA record and leave her one shy of tying Abdul-Jabbar’s NBA mark. She’s averaging 26.8 points per game, nearly matching the record 26.9 points per game she averaged two years ago, when Wilson became the first WNBA player to score 1,000 points in a season. Wilson’s Las Vegas Aces (20-9) entered the week with the league’s second-best record and eyeing their fourth title in five seasons. For the season, Las Vegas’ net rating swings by 23.8 points based on Wilson’s presence, according to WNBA.com.

“Historic,” Adebayo said. “I don’t even know how you put a word to what she’s doing. It’s really breathtaking to see somebody continue to raise the bar. She’s a great person to look up to.”

With Miami’s new-look roster, Adebayo is excited to pursue his first NBA title alongside Antetokounmpo, though it remains to be seen what final tweaks the Heat will apply. They tried to sign LeBron James, who won Olympic gold with Adebayo and Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra two years ago, but James

chose the Philadelphia 76ers

over a return to South Florida.

The Heat’s remaining offseason priorities include adding ballhandling alongside point guard Davion Mitchell, improving the team’s big-man depth and adding 3-point shooting, but Adebayo remains optimistic. And why not? Last season, several players on the current Heat roster shot well from deep, with Bobby Portis (45.6 percent with the Milwaukee Bucks), Andrew Wiggins (41.4 percent), Tim Hardaway Jr. (40.7 percent with the Denver Nuggets), Mitchell (39.5 percent) and Simone Fontecchio (37.5 percent) proving to be viable long-range threats around Adebayo and Antetokounmpo. Rookies Ryan Conwell (37th pick) and Tre Donaldson (undrafted) are also rotation hopefuls with jump-shooting chops.

And that’s all before taking into account Adebayo’s improved 3-point shot. His 206 makes from that distance in the last two seasons are almost 10 times the number of 3s he made in his first seven years in the NBA.

“We’ll figure it out,” Adebayo said of concerns about Miami’s ability to space the floor. “We don’t worry about the outside noise too much. We’ve done a lot more with less in our past, so we’ll figure it out.”

In short, Miami’s captain is confident the vibes will stay high.

James Jackson

is from South Florida and works as a Staff Editor covering the NBA. Before joining The Athletic, he worked various roles during stops within the NBA, NFL, ESPN and other platforms. James graduated from Florida A&M University in 2012 and earned a Sports Emmy in 2021.