Heat’s Bam Adebayo named to Damian Lillard’s dream starting five: ‘It’s respect for what I do’

Tuesday night’s matchup between the Miami Heat and Portland Trail Blazers at Moda Center could have been Damian Lillard’s first game back in Portland after being traded to Miami.

But after the Trail Blazers went against Lillard’s request to be traded to the Heat and dealt the eight-time All-Star guard to the Milwaukee Bucks last offseason, what once was a game slated to be aired on TNT was dropped from the national television schedule.

Heat lives up to ‘We have enough’ mantra. Takeaways from impressive short-handed win over Kings

It’s also why any discussion regarding the pairing of Heat center Bam Adebayo and Lillard is now merely a hypothetical instead of what seemed to be an inevitability last summer. It’s a fantasy that again drew headlines during the All-Star break earlier this month when Lillard was asked to name his dream NBA starting lineup during an Tik Tok interview with social media personality Nelson Neumann.

“It would be me, LeBron [James], Steph [Curry], Kevin Durant, and I’m gonna go with Bam Adebayo,” Lillard said.

How did that make Adebayo feel?

“Out of all the dudes he could have chosen, he chose me,” Adebayo said to the Miami Herald. “I feel like it’s respect for what I do, how I’ve improved over this year and from where I started.”

One of the biggest reasons behind Lillard’s interest in joining the Heat last offseason was his close friendship with Adebayo. The two developed a strong bond while playing together and winning a gold medal with Team USA at the Tokyo Olympics in the summer of 2021.

That Olympics experience helped Adebayo build close relationships with a few NBA superstars, including Lillard and Durant.

“I feel like just understanding what I bring to the table, that I can impact winning,” Adebayo said of how the Olympics helped his reputation among his peers. “Even though they say, ‘Oh, he’s undersized,’ or whatever the case may be. ‘He’s still impacting winning at the highest level no matter who they play against or who he plays against.’”

Adebayo, who played in his third NBA All-Star Game earlier this month, again proved as much in Monday night’s short-handed 121-110 road win over the Sacramento Kings. It marked Miami’s eighth victory in the last 10 games.

With the Heat missing eight players because of suspensions and injuries, Adebayo was dominant on both ends of the court. He recorded 28 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists, two steals and one block to serve as the catalyst behind the victory.

Adebayo, 26, is one of only three players in the NBA who entered Tuesday averaging at least 20 points, 10 rebounds, four assists, one steal and one block per game this season, along with Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid and Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo.

“If you look at his numbers as an offensive player, they continue to get better every year,” former Heat captain and forward Udonis Haslem said recently about Adebayo’s growth. “But the thing that has been so special about Bam is his defensive numbers haven’t dropped. On switches and man-to-man matchups, he’s just as effective in getting a stop as he was earlier in his career when he was just considered a defender. So to see that true two-way player and that he’s bought in to everything the culture is about is just a joy for me to see.”

Haslem added that the biggest difference he’s noticed about Adebayo on the offensive end is “everything doesn’t have to come off the pick-and-roll.”

“He’s getting the ball and he’s getting it on the block and he has a couple go-to moves and things that he’s very comfortable going to,” said Haslem, who spent the final six seasons of his playing career as Adebayo’s Heat teammate before retiring at the end of last season. “So to me, I think that’s the biggest difference is everything doesn’t have to be set up or predicated off the pick-and-roll. I think he’s more consistent and more confident getting the ball in scoring positions, getting to his spots and making his shots.”

As for Adebayo’s dream NBA starting lineup, he threw out the same combination of five players that Lillard gave.

“It would probably be me, Dame, KD, Steph and Bron,” Adebayo said. “Ain’t that the same five? Yeah, it makes sense.”

Then Adebayo smiled and added one more name.

“Sixth man? Yeah, I’ll take Jimmy [Butler],” Adebayo said.

THE WRIGHT TIME

With the Heat missing so many rotation players on Monday, veteran guard Delon Wright started in his Heat debut.

Wright, who signed with the Heat for the rest of the season during the All-Star break after agreeing to a buyout with the Washington Wizards, made an impact, too. He contributed 13 points on 3-of-5 shooting from the field, 2-of-4 shooting on threes and 5-of-6 shooting from the foul line, two rebounds, five assists, two steals and one block inn 35 minutes in Monday’s win over the Kings.

“The player of the game for us in the locker room was Delon,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “I don’t think his stat line was spectacular by people probably on the outside. But, man, he plays winning basketball. He guards. Offensively, he just has a great knack for knowing how to make the right play — 35 minutes, didn’t turn the ball over and made some big plays. The threes, but also the playmaking and the free throws down the stretch were really important.”

With five assists and zero turnovers in his first game with the Heat, Wright entered Tuesday with 87 assists to just 11 turnovers this season. Among NBA players who have appeared in at least 30 games this season, Wright holds the second-best assist-to-turnover ratio at 7.91 behind only Sacramento’s Kessler Edwards.

“I just wanted to come in and play how I know how to play,” Wright said following Monday’s win. “Take care of the ball, play good defense, get deflections and then I knew the rest was going to take care of itself. My teammates found me for some open threes, that kind of opened up the game for me once I saw a few go in.”

Wright’s usual role for the Heat will be off the bench, but he stepped in and made an impact as a starter with so many players out against the Kings.

“Going against the Heat over the years, I already knew what to expect,” Wright said. “It’s always the next man up. Whenever we played the Heat and they had guys out, the next person stepped up and they still played the same brand of basketball. I just knew that me coming in, I was just going to try to continue doing that and just play good team basketball.”