As Heat celebrates Dwyane Wade’s HOF induction, Bam Adebayo wants to follow in his footsteps

When Bam Adebayo received an invitation to attend Dwyane Wade’s Hall of Fame induction ceremony this past offseason, he was caught off guard.

Adebayo was an NBA rookie with the Miami Heat when Wade returned to the organization through a trade in the middle of the 2017-18 season, and they also were teammates for the full 2018-19 campaign that ended up being Wade’s final season before entering retirement. But their relationship has grown from a distance since then, with Adebayo continuing to establish himself as one of the NBA’s top big men with the Heat and Wade moving his life to the Los Angeles area.

“I was definitely shocked because that’s an intimate moment for a lot of people,” Adebayo said to the Miami Herald when asked whether he expected Wade to invite him to the August enshrinement ceremony. “And to be a part of that, you have to look at yourself as one of those people that you’re now one of his closest people. I mean, I went to the man’s Hall of Fame induction. That sounds crazy to say.”

Adebayo’s game-winner, defense dominates, other takeaways from short-handed Heat’s win over Magic

Adebayo will have another chance to celebrate Wade’s legendary NBA career and enshrinement into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame again when the Heat holds “Dwyane Wade Hall of Fame Night” during Sunday’s matchup against the Charlotte Hornets at Kaseya Center (6 p.m., Bally Sports Sun).

The night will showcase highlights from Wade’s iconic Heat career and will include an in-arena halftime interview with Wade. Also, DJ Khaled, a longtime Heat fan, will perform after the game as part of the team’s celebration to honor Wade’s 2023 Hall of Fame induction.

“Our relationship is very authentic, it’s true, it’s honest,” Adebayo, 26, said when asked about his connection with Wade. “And the biggest thing I’ve always told D-Wade is never lie to me. And he’s kept that promise. I feel like that’s what makes our relationship so unique because I don’t have to see him every day. I call him every once in a while, he’ll call me before the playoffs, he might text me during the playoffs. It’s him wanting to see, obviously, the place that he built succeed.”

Adebayo is doing his part to help the Heat succeed in the post-Wade era, averaging career-highs in points (22 per game) and rebounds (10.4) this season. He’s also averaging 4.1 assists, 1.1 steals and one block per game in his seventh NBA season.

Adebayo is one of only four players around the NBA who entered Saturday averaging at least 20 points, 10 rebounds and four assists per game this season.

With the Heat missing three starters in Jimmy Butler, Tyler Herro and Kyle Lowry because of injuries, Adebayo anchored the Heat’s offense and defense to finish Friday night’s 99-96 home win over the Orlando Magic with 21 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists. Adebayo’s signature moment of the game came when he hit a 13-foot-jumper to put the Heat ahead by one point with 18.8 seconds, which held up as the game-winner.

“I just felt that he had his fingerprints all over this game,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said of Adebayo following Friday’s victory over the Magic. “Defensively, he was anchoring everything. We had him sometimes on the five, sometimes on the perimeter. If he was on the perimeter, he was there to plug everything up, guide everybody through all the actions and then finish the defense with a rebound. Offensively, because we had some firepower out of the game, we were running basically every action through him.”

Getting to this point in his NBA career was a process for Adebayo that Wade played an important role in.

When Adebayo and Wade were Heat teammates, Adebayo’s role wasn’t as big. Adebayo was a backup for most of his first two NBA seasons behind then-starting center Hassan Whiteside while sharing a locker room with Wade, and a message Wade had for Adebayo back then stuck with him.

“Being patient. I feel like that was the biggest conversation I had with him, being patient,” Adebayo said. “When I was younger, I was mad about minutes, I was mad I wasn’t playing. I didn’t know why I wasn’t playing. And D-Wade kind of came to me and said, ‘Look, young fella, you got to be patient. Sometimes you’re not going to get out there and play right away. You got to earn that.’”

Adebayo went on to earn a bigger role and more in the seasons that followed. Now, Adebayo is producing at a pace that would put him at the top of the Heat’s record books alongside Wade in most categories if he spends all or most of his career with the organization.

At Adebayo’s current pace, he and Wade could be No. 1 and No. 2 as the Heat’s all-time career leaders in categories like two-point field goals made, free throws made, assists, steals and points, among others if Adebayo’s time with the Heat continues in the coming years, as expected. Adebayo also appears to be on his way to overtaking Udonis Haslem as the Heat’s all-time leading rebounder within the next five seasons.

“It means everything,” Adebayo said of the thought of finishing his NBA career at the top of the Heat’s record books with Wade.

But what Adebayo really wants is to share another space with Wade. He wants to join Wade on the list of players who have led the Heat to an NBA championship.

“I want the moment of being on these walls, championship alley,” Adebayo said while pointing to the photos from the Heat’s championship runs that adorn the hallway leading into the team’s locker room at Kaseya Center. “I want that, so then we can share the opportunity of being like, ‘Alright, you’re No. 1 in this and I’m No. 1 in this. I’m No. 2 in this, you’re No. 2 in this. You got championships, I got championships.’ Those are the fun conversations to have, when you can walk in a room and sit at a table and be like, ‘I know what it feels like to do what a lot of you have you already done.’ And being able to tell your side of that story.”

Adebayo has already played in two NBA Finals, but he has yet to win a championship. He’s in the third season of a five-year contract worth $163 million and will be eligible to sign an extension with the Heat this upcoming offseason.

“Being able to be with a franchise as long as you are and, two, being able to bring a championship and being at the top of all the franchise records besides a man who won the first one here,” Adebayo said regarding the prospect of having a Heat career like Wade’s. “That’s an opportunity and that’s a blessing.”