MIAMI — Amid the team’s uncertainty during NBA free agency, the Miami Heat formally locked in a franchise cornerstone on Saturday, announcing the team’s extension with All-Star center Bam Adebayo.
While the Heat did not specify the terms, sources confirmed to the Sun Sentinel that Adebayo agreed to a three-year, $166 million extension that begins in 2026-27 at $51 million.
Adebayo will remain under the terms of his previous contract in the interim, at $34.8 million for this coming season and $37 million for 2025-26.
Adebayo could have been eligible this summer for a four-year, $245 million extension had he met the criteria for a supermax extension.
However, with Adebayo, 26, failing to be named NBA Defensive Player of the Year or to one of the three All-NBA teams — his needed criteria for a supermax contract — he instead became limited to a smaller extension.
Adebayo also had the right to wait another year or even two to see if he could meet the supermax criteria, which could have made him eligible for a five-year, $346 million contract.
In the end, Adebayo took the more immediate deal as insurance in the event of a career-threatening injury.
Under supermax criteria, Adebayo would have been eligible to negotiate for a salary as high as $59.7 million at the 2026-27 start of an extension. Without supermax criteria, the starting salary comes down enough to provide the Heat potential leeway against the luxury tax and punitive aprons in the NBA’s new collective-bargaining agreement.
Selected by the Heat out of Kentucky at No. 14 in the 2015 draft, Adebayo moved swiftly to his first career extension when that window opened during the 2020 offseason, a five-year, $163 million agreement, the one he currently is completing.
With this latest three-year extension, Adebayo during his next free agency will be able to qualify for the highest-possible veteran-maximum salary, at 35% of his team’s overall salary cap.
With the signing of an extension, Adebayo stands as the lone Heat player under contract for 2028-29,
Named an All-Star for the third time and first-team All-Defensive for the first time, Adebayo closed this past season with a career-high 737 rebounds, surpassing his previous high of 735 in 2019-20. He led the Heat in scoring 21 times this past season, 53 times in rebounds and 19 times in assists, again playing as a fulcrum of the offense. He also posted five consecutive games of at least 20 points and 10 rebounds twice this past season.
Adebayo, who is coming off his first season as Heat captain, began work Saturday in Las Vegas with USA Basketball ahead of an appearance at the Paris Games, his second consecutive Olympic appearance.
