Bam Adebayo reveals that LaMelo Ball didn’t apologize about tripping incident

As the Miami Heat’s forgetful 2025-26 campaign is officially over, there was still a sour taste left in the end.

Of course, Miami fell short to the Charlotte Hornets in the 9-10 play-in matchup in an overtime thriller. However, it’s only fair to assume if there would still be Heat basketball being played had their captain and star player Bam Adebayo not gotten injured. In what was a heavily controversial play in that game, Adebayo was taken down by LaMelo Ball early in the first half— courtesy of a clear cheap shot where Ball grabbed Adebayo’s ankle and pulled out from under him. It led to a hard fall on Adebayo’s tailbone, and one in which he left the game and never returned.

Immediately following the season-ending loss, coach Erik Spoelstra did not hold back on ripping Ball apart in the postgame press conference:

“I don’t think it’s cute. I don’t think it’s funny. I think it’s a stupid play. It’s a dangerous play. He (LaMelo) should be penalized for that. I don’t think that belongs in the game, tripping guys. He should have been thrown out of the game for that.”

— Erik Spoelstra

The aftermath included a league review of Ball’s shenanigans on Adebayo, leading to a $60K fine— but no suspension. Ball would ultimately receive his karma when Charlotte was destroyed by the Orlando Magic in their next play-in game, ending the Hornets’ season.

However, Ball iterated after the Heat-Hornets outing that he planned to “check in” and apologize to Adebayo. Days later, fans have discovered that was not what transpired.

Bam Adebayo confirmed that LaMelo Ball did not reach out at all, yet.

In Miami’s player exit interviews, it was no shock that the Ball-Adebayo incident was addressed. And the Heat star went on to reveal his skepticism of Ball’s intentions during that play and even confirmed he has not heard anything from Ball.

“It doesn’t make sense that three or four plays can go by and you can review a 3-point shot,” Adebayo stated. “You can’t review a hostile act?… LaMelo makes what, $30 million a year? The $60K fine he’s not going to see… nobody is going to know the truth but LaMelo if it was dirty or not.”

At the end of the day, neither a Ball suspension nor even a formal apology to Adebayo wasn’t going to change the fact that Miami’s season is over. It’s a shame that fans couldn’t see it through with this Heat team, especially after witnessing the eight seed Magic upsetting the Detroit Pistons early in these playoffs. The Heat would have posed as a legitimate matchup threat to the likes of Detroit— as they finished the regular season going 3-1 against them in their matchups.

Not to mention, Miami would have been on the opposite side of the postseason bracket from the Boston Celtics and New York Knicks had they gotten out of a potential Detroit first round series. A path for another underdog run was certainly there, but the basketball gods said otherwise.

Now another long offseason filled with questions will take place, as Pat Riley and company will hope to make the best of Adebayo’s prime years and maximize a re-tooling window.

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