How will Bam Adebayo’s max extension affect Heat cap sheet?

Heat center Bam Adebayo, 26, will be eligible for a four-year supermax extension this offseason if he makes All-NBA. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

Miami Heat insider Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald reported last week that Bam Adebayo is expected to receive a lucrative–aka: max–extension from the Miami Heat this offseason.

The All-NBA teams will be announced on Wednesday. Depending on whether or not he makes an All-NBA team or not determines if he will be eligible for the lofty supermax extension.

How will either affect the Miami Heat’s cap sheet? Let’s examine!

What if Adebayo earns supermax?

The supermax extension is the biggest extension you can give to give to a player with seven, eight or nine years of experience. Max players with 7-9 years of experience are eligible for a max worth 30 percent of the salary cap; the supermax bumps that figure up to 35 percent, the allotted percentage allowed for players with 10-plus years of experience.

Though you have to meet either one of these qualifications to be eligible for the supermax:

• You make an All-NBA team that season or in two of the three most recent seasons.
• You get named Defensive Player of the Year that season or in two of the three most recent seasons.
• Earn MVP in any of the three most recent seasons.

Thus, Bam Adebayo, who will turn 27-years-old in July, would be eligible for the award if he earned All-NBA honors this season–a feat he’s never reached. He finished third in Defensive Player of the Year voting–his highest finish ever–and obviously hasn’t won MVP.

Supermax extensions can’t go beyond six years, so Adebayo’s supermax would be worth up to nearly $245 million over four years if he were to earn it this offseason (should the current cap projections remain the same). His starting cap hit would be roughly $54.3 million in 2026-27, his age-29 season, and go through the 2029-30 season.

Currently, Tyler Herro ($33.0M) and Jaime Jaquez Jr. ($5.9M) are the only two players on the Heat cap sheet for the 2026-27 season. No Heat player is on the cap sheet for 2027-28 and beyond, but that’s not factoring in possible rookie extensions for Jaime Jaquez and Nikola Jovic, should either (or both) be on the roster in those seasons.

The biggest puzzle piece the Heat will have to place is Jimmy Butler’s two-year extension worth $113 million, if he earns it. Those would carry approximate cap hits of $54.3 and $58.6 million (the same as Adebayo’s first two) for 2024-25 and 2025-26 seasons, respectively. Thus, the two would own approximately 59 percent of the cap in 2025-26 and 66 percent in 2026-27. That’s not nothing.

The Heat can go over the cap in those situations, so it’s not like it will have (less than) 40 percent to work with over those two seasons. But in the daunting age of the second apron, the higher that number gets for just two players, the thinner the margins get.

What if Adebayo earns the normal max?

Instead of earning ~$315 million over the next six seasons, a normal max extension for Bam Adebayo–worth $165 million over three seasons–would be roughly $238 million over five years with a starting cap hit of $51.2 million for the 2026-27 season.

The percentage of cap that Adebayo and Butler would allocate for in ‘26-27 becomes roughly 64 percent–a number that exceeds 87 percent if you account for Herro and Jaquez’s cap hits.

That’s easier to stomach, and we will have more clarity on what the future roster looks like once the offseason ends. Here are the projected apron marks for future seasons, which must be taken into account for:

• First Apron:
  • 2024-25: $178.7M
  • 2025-26: $196.5M
  • 2026-27: $216.1M
  • 2027-28: $237.8M
  • 2028-29: $261.5M
• Second Apron:
  • 2024-25: $189.5M
  • 2025-26: $208.4M
  • 2026-27: $229.2M
  • 2027-28: $252.2M
  • 2028-29: $277.4M

The punitive first apron and ultra-punitive second apron have to be accounted for, in addition to the luxury tax and repeater tax. The roster-building limitations with the two aprons make it difficult in the common age to carry not just two, but three max players (looking at you, Phoenix).

Adebayo will get his money, and rightfully so! If any player deserves a supermax, it’s Bam Adebayo. Very few–if any–are tasked with more on a nightly basis. But the more max contracts you have on your roster, the margin-for-error becomes that much thinner if you cross either of those two aprons. The hard truth is that, unless you’re a perennial contender, going past the second apron is suicide.

Bam Adebayo is your franchise pillar. He’s arguably the single most important player on the Miami Heat. But the ramifications of having at least two max players is a fascinating wrinkle with the new CBA, which will be fascinating to follow over next season and beyond.

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