Bam Adebayo has developed into one of the best centers in the NBA over his eight-year career. Though the three-time All-Star is coming off his worst season since becoming a full-time starter in 2019-20.
Last season, Adebayo, 28, averaged 18.1 points, 9.6 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game, He shot a career-low 48.5 percent from the floor despite shooting 35.7 percent from 3-point range. He also ranked in the 27th percentile amongst bigs in effective field goal percentage and in the 17th percentile in 2-point percentage, according to Cleaning The Glass.
While he remains one of the best defenders in the sport, a recent centers ranking suggest he’s dropped in the pecking order relative to his peers.
HoopsHype ranks Bam Adebayo as 8th-best center heading into 2025-26 season:
Heading into the new season, HoopsHype did their annual rankings for big men. Adebayo, who did not make an All-Defensive team for the first time since 2018-19 last year, clocked in at No. 8 after ranking No. 6 and 4 each of the last two seasons, respectively.
“One of the most unique players on this list, Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo is undersized, at least height-wise, for a center, standing at 6-foot-9 (and that official listing might be a bit kind to him),” Hoopshype’s Frank Urbina wrote. “Adebayo makes up for that by having a stout, strong frame and ridiculous quickness for a 5.
“He also possesses great skills for a center, able to grab rebounds and bring the ball down the floor to create easy scoring looks for teammates, as well as face up, drive, and hit pull-up midrange jumpers with ease. Adebayo also just had the best three-point shooting season of his career, hitting 35.7 percent of his attempts on nearly three nightly attempts, and is an adept rebounder. … If Adebayo can continue to develop that last part of his skill set, he could make his place in this ranking look bad by the end of next season.”
The biggest silver lining from Adebayo’s season was his 3-point shooting. He shot 43.5 percent from 3-point range over his final 35 games. That’s a very encouraging development with them playing him 7-foot big Kel’el Ware — who’s not a natural floor spacer.
Despite his down season, you could argue that Adebayo’s still ranked too low.
A few of the centers that he ranks behind is Ivica Zubac, Domantas Sabonis, Joel Embiid (is perpetually hurt) and Karl-Anthony Towns. Adebayo’s the best defender and arguably the passer of those five while being the third-best scorer.
I understand why he’s ranked below them after last season. The gap isn’t big no matter how you slice the pie. But if Adebayo’s able to have a big season, I could see him cracking top-6 territory once again entering 2026-27.
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That trade with the Lakers, as they want Wiggins, keeps coming up on various news sites. But, now it’s even worse, as they took away the pick (actually, gave it to the Nets) in a three team trade, and offer us a trade exception, and now they give us Rui and Knecht, and get JJJ back from us with Andrew. That is an absurd trade, the type only a person with a homer point of view can envision. Maybe the writer works for the Lakers.
I say, if they want Wiggins, pay for him dearly. Or better yet, let’s keep Andrew and tell the Lakers to take their business elsewhere.
If Lakers are looking for someone to con, they need to look elsewhere.
Hachimura, Knecht AND 2031 1st Rd pick for Wiggins or forgetaboutit! Add Kleber if they want Jaquez. Kleber is a poor man’s back-up PF. 6’10” 240 lbs. Hachimura and Kleber are both on expiring contracts. Knecht and draft pick have trade value.
Otherwise, play it cool and begin the season with what we have until something better comes along. If push comes to shove, I would give Johnson (PF) and/or Goldin (C) shots at rotation spots with Bam and Ware.
Yup, no way can the Heat do that deal!
clickbait my man.lakers been supposedly wanting wiggins for months.if they really wanted him they would have had him by now.their priority was a big they got that immediately in ayton..lakers are good as long as the goat stays healthy which at his stage in career unlikely.
Now that same LA homer writer has added Maxi Kleiber to his trade proposal, with Rui and Knecht, but also lowered our return for Wiggins to a 2032 second. He said that is fair value, but that is only in his biased opinion. Trade us Rui and two firsts and you can have Wiggins if you covet him so much, that is fair value. We don’t want your castoffs. Basketball writers, not all of them, but including some of the guys at AUCH, are some of the dumbest of all writers. AUCH has two articles out right now advocating moves we only should make if we want to shoot ourselves in the foot.
Let’s see where he ranks at PF after the 2025-2026 season. Evan Mobley is #4 heading into the season.
Mobley 2024-25 stats: 18.5 ppg, 9.3 rpg, 3.2 apg, 55.7 FG%, 37.0 3P%
CENTER RANKINGS 2025-2026 and 2024-2025 Stats
#8 Bam: 18.1 ppg, 9.6 rpg, 4.3 apg, 48.5 FG%, 35.7 3P%
#7 Ivica Zubac: 16.8 ppg, 12.6 rpg, 2.7 apg, 62.8 FG%, 66.1 FT% 0.0 3pt%
#4 Alperan Sengun: 19.1 ppg, 10.3 rpg, 4.9 apg, 49.6 FG%, 23.3 3P%
id take zubac and sengun over bam,bams a limited player offensively.a very good defender unless hes guarding joker joel.overpayed not max player,on a good team hes the third best player
If he is limited offensively, what does that make Zubac. Career 8% 3 pt shooter. Hasn’t made one in 4 years. His FG% is high because he shoots everything within 5 feet.
hes option 4 kawhi james powell,hes a monster good 7ft 280 to big for heat centers,last 6 years fg% over 60 every year he can guard joker bam no shot,when your that big u hang around rim what kelel should do.bams not a center so he should be compared to legit bigs
bam just has never developed his inside low post game,needs to go to the kevin mchale school of footwork
That’s because he has had to run all over the court to anchor Miami’s defense. He does things none of the players you mentioned can or want to do.
hes a top 5 defender in nba.when u need pts at end of game just doesnt want ball/i need a guy who wants the ball last 2 minutes ala tyler
Zubac not, but Sengun will be the top 5 player in the NBA this year or the year after that. He has a potential to be a MVP some day.
Bam is great, but its clear, that he is not MVP level player.
I don’t know about top 5 players in NBA, maybe top 5 centers.
He outplayed Jokic at Euro, statistically, by impression, and in game they play against each other. That means something.
Yes but you have other players in NBA I would include in top 5. Maybe he can be top 10. He’s good but he’s no Jovic.
sengun in top 30 not sure id take bam over him when i watched hous in playoffs he did nothing
Luka, Greek, Jokic are three of top five NBA players. If you can play Euro at their level or better, you are clearly a candidate for top 5 in NBA too.
i heard denver wants to trade joker for sengun houston also asking for a first
“Clickbait my man”
sengun mvp some day wembayama mvp some day sengun be lucky to make all star game
Those are centers. I said I wondered where he would rank after a season at PF. I was just comparing his stats as a center to a few who ranked above him as well as vs #4 PF Mobley.
greek tatum kd banchero clearly better push randle mobley jarren jackson jr,id have bam 5-8 range,again bam is still prob our best player and thats a major problem
How would rate them defensively 1-8? Bam is better than most. Its not just how many points you score…it’s also how many you give up. At least that’s what you have always been preaching about Herro.
bams top of list defensively with dramond and the best of the batch ad s.theres 2 sides of the ball though thats where ad smokes bam and why lakers have jewelry.u need ad type players for jewelry.bam has to be your 3rd best player on champ team.ad prob 2nd best player on champ team.dont think ad can be best player for jewelry he doesnt have that dawg mentality that the great ones have
AD has jewelry (one ring) because he was on same team as James. Didn’t have jack before that.
forgot ad and lebron built like pf not sure what position youd classify the goat
Bam was always at the best when he was playing close to the rim (in the way that he helped the team the most). Even moving out a bit and hitting his midrange jumpers hurt the team. Having him on perimeter an hitting 3p was even worse, despite good %.
The solution is, of course, to pair him with a good center, which covers the rim area when Bam is outside. I hope Ware will be exactly that this season.
So true. Put him in the right situation and he would be a solid A player, a second team allstar. I think he is underappreciated as he does whatever he can for the team, even playing hard out of his rightful position. I keep hoping someday it will happen, and with Ware’s potential, all we would need is a solid backup to get there. But, asking Goldin to do it is unlikely to age well, and Nico is another forward. Time is running short on getting a player we definitely need.
u put him around better players his touches and #s go down,that is what the heat need 2 clearly better players than bam.i have bam as a top 25-30 player