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Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo has started traveling with the team and giving valuable input from the bench. The injured Olympian underwent right thumb surgery on December 7. His recovery timetable was four to six weeks.
Getting Adebayo back into the mix, especially in team huddles, has provided an incredible emotional boost. According to head coach Erik Spoelstra (via Ira Winderman of the Sun-Sentinel), the “human interaction is helping his hand heal a little quicker.” Adebayo could be back in a Heat uniform within a week or no later than the end of January.
“Bam is the heart and soul of our group,” Spoelstra said, via Winderman. “So I think just from a spirit standpoint, and an emotional-boost standpoint, it’s great having him here with the team, with the guys.”
Adebayo has been on the bench in street clothes throughout December for home games at FTX Arena, but his presence on the road has strengthened everyone around him. For starters, reserve center Omer Yurtseven has been playing out of his mind and tied a rookie record of eight straight games with at least 12 rebounds. Look for Adebayo to be in his ear for the Heat’s remaining four road contests.
“He likes being around the games,” Spoelstra said of Adebayo. “You see how engaged he is in every huddle, and on the sidelines.”
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Kyle Lowry’s Toronto Homecoming Rescheduled
The NBA announced the rescheduling of 11 games due to COVID-19 postponements, including two Miami Heat matchups. One of them is the much-anticipated Toronto homecoming for Kyle Lowry who spent nine seasons with the Raptors and won a title there in 2019.
The Heat and Raptors will play on February 1 at Scotiabank Arena. That contest got bumped up two nights due to a corresponding move: Miami travels to San Antonio on February 3, the original date for the Heat-Raptors game. The NBA moved eight other games elsewhere on the calendar “in an effort to mitigate the impact of the postponements on each team’s schedule density,” according to a press release.
Emotional Night Coming Up
Lowry – the greatest player in Toronto Raptors history – knows it’s going to be an emotional night when he returns to his old stomping grounds in Canada. He didn’t even try to put on a brave face when Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated asked about it on November 23.
“I’m a man’s man, but I know I’m going to be a little bit sensitive and crying that day,” Lowry said, via NBC Sports. “I don’t know. I might hold it in. But it’s one of them days where I know it’s going to be a lot of love for me and me giving love back, it’s just going to be interesting how it goes down because I don’t know what to expect.”
Lowry holds a multitude of Raptors franchise records including assists (4277), steals (873), triple-doubles (16), and three-point field goals (1518). He averaged 17.5 points and 7.1 assists per game while shooting 37.7% from three-point land.
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