While he wasn’t close to winning the award, Miami Heat big Bam Adebayo did receive some recognition for the individual award he most covets.
On Monday, the league announced the winner of the Defensive Player of the Year. San Antonio Spurs superstar Victor Wembanyama became the first player in league history to win the award unanimously, though Adebayo was one of four players to receive one third-place vote.
Here’s how the third-place votes were tallied:
- Chet Holmgren, Thunder (second place) — 11
- Ausar Thompson, Pistons (third place) – 33
- Rudy Gobert, Timberwolves – 29
- Scottie Barnes, Raptors – 12
- Derrick White, Celtics – 7
- Cason Wallace, Thunder – 2
- Amen Thompson, Rockets – 0 (he had two second-place votes, however)
- Dyson Daniels, Hawks – 2
- OG Anunoby, Knicks – 1
- Jalen Duren, Pistons – 1
- Draymond Green, Warriors – 1
- Bam Adebayo, Heat — 1
Adebayo was never in real contention to win the award, especially after the Heat’s defense cratered over the last month. That issue wasn’t his undoing, but that will unquestionably dock one’s resume when it comes to splitting hairs for any sort of award centered around defense.
The Heat’s star was the first big in over two decades to average 20.0 points and 10.0 rebounds — nearly tallying that on the dot. Adebayo shot 44.2 percent from the floor, 31.8 percent from 3-point range and 77.8 percent from the free-throw line.
He was still outstanding defensively. He remained incredibly scheme-versatile, excelling in myriad coverages — even when the Heat went to zone. Four of their five-best defensive lineups included him on the floor; their defensive rating with Adebayo on the floor was a 112.5 (79th percentile), compared to 117.9 when he wasn’t (38th percentile).
The All-Defensive teams won’t be announced until a later date. Adebayo has finished on the All-Defensive second team four times and the first team once — which came in 2023-24.
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go blazers #1 pick should have been to wizards out concussion 79 78 blazers.beat them cheatin spurs
Lame comment. And continuing dumb conspiracy theory. Even if Draymond or Dillon Brooks got hurt, and I’m not a fan of either one, I still wouldn’t be glad they got hurt.
i would have to say maxey best player in east?any body disagree
Giannis
maxey better than brown or tatum they cant stop him might be a series oubre and pg can guard pretty good, go phily.browns a dirty player
108 92 phily wow 2 38 left
30s sixers up on bost 74 68 3rd
Duren with a third place vote, when Detroit is worse on defense (110.5) in his minutes than without him (110.2). He’s all NBA because of his offense. Shows that some voters don’t know what they’re watching
is it mainly his fault or maybe because there playing with uncan,#1 seed in east btw hes fine cades great.rest of team not as fine
It’s a vote for who is the single best/most impactful defender in the entire NBA, and Duren – unlike Wemby, Gobert, Chet, Ausar, Bam, etc – does not improve his team’s defense when he plays but makes it slightly worse – what don’t you understand about that? Post after post of nothing but racist bs.
Bam plays hard and guards HIS yard (man) but not the rim as much as Ware does at times. Ideal guys who play the 5 need to defend the rim not just their man.
great point,
Bam covers 5’s about as well as any 4 can be expected to cover them. He’s not at the rim all the time because he is busy running all over the floor covering 1’s – 5’s. Ware has the luxury of camping out in the paint. When Bam is out, if Ware ventures too far out of the paint on defense, he is frequently beaten to the rim by smaller faster players.
Good points SunMan. Ware just an example certainly not the standard due to his clear deficiencies. Also consider Bam latest offensive role responsibilities being more of a team focal point.
Exactly. Ware as the only big man on the court is vulnerable defensively. In combination with another big man can present a defensively wall instead of a single brick.
Exactly! Riley and Spo seem to prefer “small ball” and prefer players who fit that profile. The only reason the Heat got Ware is that he dropped out of the lottery and was the best available player at #15. He is better and has a higher ceiling than a few of the 14 lottery picks taken ahead of him in the 2024 draft.
He is most effective when paired with a two-way PF such as Bam. If Miami has the opportunity to draft a good combo SF/PF type in the lottery (e.g., Ament, Lendeborg, Steinbach), it would probably be the best move the team can make. Depending on who Miami drafts in the first round, there may be good rotational caliber front court players available in the second round as well.
Yes, its time to get a solid front court player.
Rim protection = preventing the other team from scoring. Bam vs Ware rim protection is an unfair comparison, Bam is all-defense level and the proof is Miami’s defensive rating when each was on the court this year.
Bam 113.4
Ware 116.8
League average defense 115.8. Heat were a below average defense when Ware played, and that number above includes minutes when he played with Bam. In 1022 minutes he played without Bam the defense fell off to 118.9.
Rebounding is a big component of the difference in those defensive ratings, opponents rebounded 27.7% of their missed shots in Ware’s minutes vs 22.3% in Bam’s.
Heat moved to more zone and double big lineups at the end of the season because Ware is bad defensively to hide him with Bam.
Is Ware worse defender then Bam?
Of course he is, so you are right, if you want to prove that.
Much more interesting is, in which combination Ware defend better and in which worse. It would be great if you can provide that kind of data.
Short answer is there really aren’t any good defensive lineups with Ware, other than with Bam.
I like the on-off and lineup info on basketball reference because it gives the full season minutes.
You can sort the lineups by net points. It doesn’t separate out offense and defense, but it gives a good overview of which lineups are winning vs losing their minutes. Of the twenty most frequent two man lineups the best were
#1 Bam Jaquez +8.2
#2 Bam Larsson +7.6
#3 Larsson Mitchell +5.4
#4 Bam Mitchell +5.2
#5 Bam Powell +4.3
The only losing/negative lineups were
#17 Jaquez Dru Smith -0.3
#18 Jaquez Ware -0.5
#19 Larsson Ware -3.4
#20 Powell Ware -5.7
All of those lineups played over >700 min, so its a big sample to draw conclusions from. Herro doesn’t appear in any because he didn’t play enough minutes, he was 10th on the team in minutes this year, after being 1st last year
https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/MIA/2026/lineups/
This site has lineup data that includes offense and defense component. You can change the players around etc
https://databallr.com/wowy/MIA/2026/2026/regular/high/2man/1628389
In 461 minutes the Bam Ware two man lineup was +8.6, with a 119.1 offense and 110.8 defense – elite defense.
This was the source of a lot of social media posts about how Spo was an idiot for not playing that lineup more. But it’s clear that Bam was the one driving the defense in that lineup. And it’s also not a ton of minutes to draw conclusions from.
In 572 minutes Bam Fontecchio was +15.0, with a better defensive rating than Bam Ware at 109.8.
In 414 minutes Bam Dru Smith was +9.4, with a 107.1 defensive rating. Miami defended like OKC (#1 defense, 107.7) with that lineup on the court. Which checks out somewhat because Dru Smith is a very good defender, but it’s only 400 minutes.
But no one this year was saying play Bam Fontecchio, or play Bam Smith, even though the lineup numbers were better than Bam Ware in a similar amount of minutes.
Ok thank you.
Thats more interesting.
Bam does deserve to be selected for one of the All Defensive Teams. He is still one of the most versatile defensive players in the NBA.
jack of all sizes master of none.did u watch gobert on joker compared to little bams finals effort .bams cryptonite good bigs.luckily for him not to many in league
Totally different style of play. Both Jokic and Gobert are playing inside, and both cant defend a chair on perimeter. Bam defends everything.
Gobert can defend on the perimeter, he was on Murray last night for example. Opposing teams want to get him out to the perimeter, not because he can’t defend there but to do anything to move him away from the basket. Similar to how they ideally want Bam in the corner to get Bam away from help defense.
Gobert had a DPOY year this year if Wemby wasn’t playing. He made MIN -9.2 points better on defense vs Wemby -9.7. Both are one man top 3 defenses. Bam made Miami -3.8 better on defense, a one man top 5 defense. Spurs finished overall #3, MIN #8, Miami #13
Bam actually had a similar defensive impact this year to the 21-22 season, when the Heat were -4.3 on defense in his minutes.
They finished better that year than this year, they were the #5 defense overall, in large part because the frontcourt was Bam and PJ Tucker and the backup center was Dewayne Dedmon
I remember how Luka tortured him in a playoff a season or two ago.
true but we do remember bam versus joker,and gobert versus joker is the same size.bam not a center for crying out loud perf nba pf body
Yes, some elite centers are too much for him.
Bam is still a great defensive player, but I think given Miami’s falling back defensively and the teams overall record, hurt him and will continue to hurt him. All the players ahead of him on the list, played for teams with better defensive ratings and better records.
If Bam wants the defensive accolades he deserves, he’s going to need Pat to improve the roster.
He didn’t deserve one vote
bams just to short to win dpoy.gobert wemby like 1/2 foot taller