MIAMI — Instead of what set up as a potentially costly waiting game for the Miami Heat with center Bam Adebayo, a window has opened for a compromise agreement that would lock the All-Star center into place with the team for three additional seasons.
Amid reports Wednesday of Adebayo and the Heat reaching agreement on an extension, an NBA party familiar with the process told the South Florida Sun Sentinel that negotiations were ongoing and not complete.
Had Adebayo this past season met the criteria for a supermax deal that would have paid $245 million over four years, the expectation was Adebayo would have moved expeditiously for such an extension this summer.
However, with Adebayo, 26, falling 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 maximum offer of a three-year, $165.8 million extension.
According to the Associated Press and The Athletic, that is now the figure that is in play. To put that into further perspective, by eventually meeting supermax criteria, Adebayo could have been eventually eligible for a five-year, $346 million contract.
In essence, it is an extension that would assure Adebayo of the additional salary in the event of a career-threatening injury. But it also is a figure that would save the Heat significantly against the salary cap, with Adebayo otherwise eligible to see the supermax figure by waiting and then either being named All-NBA or Defensive Player of the Year in either of the next two seasons.
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 to $51.2 million for 2026-27, 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 at No. 14 in the 2015 draft, Adebayo moved swiftly to an extension when that window opened during the 2020 offseason, a five-year, $163 million agreement that pays $34.9 million this coming season and $37 million for 2025-26.
Adebayo then could have become a free agent in the 2026 offseason.
With a three-year extension, Adebayo during his next free agency would then 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 would stand as the lone Heat player under contract for 2028-29, with Tyler Herro and Jaime Jaquez Jr. holding contracts that run through 2026-27.
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, once 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, becoming the first player in team history to do so in at least five consecutive games multiple times in a season.
Adebayo is eligible to sign an extension starting on July 6, at the expiration of the NBA’s signing moratorium for the 2024-25 contract calendar. The extenson window remains opens through Oct. 21.
Adebayo, who is coming off his first season as Heat captain, begins work next month with USA Basketball ahead of an appearance at the Paris Games, his second consecutive Olympic appearance.
