Kendrick Perkins makes blunt Bam Adebayo take amid Heat's blowout loss
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The Jimmy Butler trade drama continues to envelope (and perhaps even consume) the Miami Heat, and it’s starting to affect their play on the court in a big way. On Thursday night, the Heat suffered an embarrassing 125-96 defeat to the Milwaukee Bucks, and at this point, getting rid of Butler might be a need for them considering the rot that has been festering within the team over the past few weeks. However, obscured by all this Butler drama has been the meh play of Bam Adebayo.
Adebayo, who’s been expanding his range as seen during his stint with Team USA during the 2024 Paris Olympics, hasn’t been able to translate that into consistently better production on the hardwood for the Heat. Against the Bucks, Adebayo was a bit invisible, scoring just 11 points on 5-12 shooting from the field and even taking a backseat to rookie Kel’el Ware at times.
Retired NBA big man turned pundit Kendrick Perkins is a bit frustrated with what he’s been seeing from Adebayo, as he thought that this would be a breakout season for the Heat big man.
“What the hell is wrong with Bam. I thought this would be the year for him to take a serious leap but that has not been the case,” Perkins wrote on his official account on X (formerly known as Twitter).
Adebayo’s numbers are down across the board, and his performance against the Bucks did not do much, if anything at all, to quell concerns regarding his production this season. The biggest worry surrounding the Heat center is his steep decline in scoring efficiency; he’s shooting 45.5 percent from the field, his first pro season shooting below 50 percent, and he’s also scoring his fewest points per game on average since the 2018-19 season.
There is a chance that the 27-year-old simply may not be capable of shouldering a bigger offensive workload. But he should still make up for it with his efficiency and defense, and at the moment, the former is missing in a big way from his game.
When will the drama surrounding the Heat end?
No one can ever say that the Heat have not been successful in the Jimmy Butler era. They made it to the NBA Finals twice, and was consistently threatening to make a deep playoff run. But all good things come to an end, and both Butler and the Heat are now preparing themselves for their inevitable parting of ways.
Perhaps when this dark cloud isn’t hovering above the Heat franchise anymore, Bam Adebayo and company will be able to right the ship.
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