MIAMI — An exhibition with meaning? Perhaps not to that degree. But Bam Adebayo would have every right to look at Saturday night’s matchup at Kaseya Center against the Minnesota Timberwolves as something more than a benign preseason game.
As part of the NBA’s offseason makeover, one of the most dramatic changes outside of the Heat’s acquisition of Giannis Antetokounmpo was the Timberwolves’ addition of LaMelo Ball.
As in the LaMelo Ball who dragged down Adebayo during the second quarter of the Heat’s play-in loss to the Charlotte Hornets last April.
With Adebayo unable to play on after only 11:26 of action, the Hornets won that game 127-126 in overtime, on a game-winning drive by Ball, no less, knocking the Heat out of the playoffs for the first time in seven seasons.
“I don’t carry hate in my heart,” Adebayo said when asked about Saturday’s matchup and the Ball element of the equation, even without a guarantee that either plays. “If you spend that much time thinking about that, then you’re not worried about the present and the future.
“It happened, and it’s over with.’
But it wasn’t over with, even from the NBA’s perspective.
In the wake of the play going without a whistle, the NBA followed up the following day by fining Ball $35,000 and assessing a Flagrant 2 foul for the play, a sanction that would have taken Ball off the court in that play-in game at the same point Adebayo was sidelined for the night with a bruised tailbone.
The league, in a statement, said the after-the-fact sanction was issued, “upon league office review for making unnecessary and reckless contact with Heat center-forward Bam Adebayo that created a significant injury risk.”
The Hornets’ season would end three days later, when they were blown out on the final night of the play-in round by the Orlando Magic.
“It’s one of those things where you forgive — and you don’t forget,” Adebayo said as the Heat continued their preseason drilling at Kaseya Center. “But no hate in the heart.”
By losing that night, the Heat wound up with their first lottery pick since 2019, with that No. 13 selection part of the package sent to the Milwaukee Bucks for Antetokounmpo (Tennessee forward Nate Ament was taken with that selection).
“Honestly,” Adebayo said this week, “it kind of worked out better for us that we lost the game. So, I mean, the positive is it was part of us getting new guys on the team. We got a great reset.”
Still, Saturday will be the first face-to-face since Ball’s takedown of the Heat captain, even with coach Erik Spoelstra hinting it could be a night off for his regulars, with the same two teams to meet in their season opener on Oct. 21 at Kaseya Center.
“We’ll probably have a conversation,” Adebayo said of meeting up with Ball. “Like I said, I’m not going to overthink that. We’re focused on this Heat team trying to do something special.”
A cheap shot? Even the NBA agreed, with NBA officiating supervisor Monty McCutchen addressing the play during a preseason officiating briefing, noting that the referees do not have the ability to assess an after-the-fact flagrant foul after there is ensuing play.
Immediately after the game, lead referee Zach Zarba said to a pool reporter, “The play wasn’t whistled in real time. Play continued with a fast break. And because play wasn’t stopped immediately, and there was no whistle on the play, the window to review the play was closed.”
Ball apologized after the game, saying a blow to the head he took on the drive prior to the Adebayo incident left him clouded with his reaction.
But if such a play happened in the park, during pick-up, in real life?
“This is real life. Basketball is real life,” Adebayo said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s Pee Wee, Little League or middle school. You don’t do that.”
Or do it again.
The play last April was eerily similar to one during a January 2024 Heat-Hornets game, when Ball grabbed at Adebayo’s leg while Adebayo played in transition, with Adebayo remaining upright on that play.
While the Heat did realize a benefit with the trip to the lottery, Adebayo said the reality is that he would have been ready for the start of the playoffs, which would have been a Heat matchup against the Detroit Pistons with a pair of play-in wins.
“It was crazy because it wasn’t that long,” Adebayo said of his recovery period. “I probably could have been back playing in four days.”