This past summer, both Bam Adebayo and coach Erik Spoelstra represented the Miami Heat franchise at the 2024 Olympics with Team USA. Of course, the historic squad secured a Gold Medal, and it was a memorable experience for the Heat captain.
It was Adebayo’s second appearance with Team USA, and is now a 2X Gold Medal winner in 2020 and 2024, respectively.
The 27 year-old big man played a pivotal role for the Olympic group over this past summer. He was featured as a marquee name off the bench for head coach Steve Kerr’s second unit. There were a majority of minutes where he played alongside Anthony Davis as a hybrid power forward/center duo.
Adebayo displayed a plethora of elite two-way versatility, as he so often does for the Heat on a nightly basis. His improved ability to stretch the floor from 3-point range was a highlight of his most recent USA run.
As part of that stacked roster, the group was headlined by the future Hall-of-Fame trio of LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant. And in Netflix’s latest trending documentary, Adebayo shared an admiration of playing alongside Durant.
The Miami Heat notably almost pulled off a last minute trade deadline move to acquire Kevin Durant.
ESPN’s Brian Windhorst noted several times that Miami was heavily in the mix to bring in the 2X NBA Champion and former league MVP, as the Phoenix Suns were actively shopping him.
In fact, Shams Charania iterated just shortly after the deadline that the Heat were one of, if not the only destination Durant would have been ok landing with.
The Suns have been arguably the most disappointing roster in recent years. They remain struggling to even stay relevant in the NBA’s play-in seeding, after making drastic financial commitments around the trio of Durant, Devin Booker and Bradley Beal.
According to each of those ESPN insiders, the Suns’ superstar is ‘widely’ expected to eventually be moved this offseason. If that comes to fruition, Pat Riley and company will surely do their due diligence once again with calling on Durant. His generational talents would be more than enough to make the Heat contenders once again.
Even with him approaching his final years of a window at the age of 36, he has still performed like one of the top players in the entire association. Durant is currently averaging 27.3 points, 6.0 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 1.4 blocks on All-NBA caliber 53/41/83 shooting splits.
What would you be willing to give up in a trade for KD? Let us know in the comments below!
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It’s happening!
kd to the heat
Fastest rebuild ever
I dont want him in Miami.