![\"Samiar](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/https:\/\/author-service-images-sandbox-us-east-1.publishing.aws.arc.pub\/wplginc\/9dfe9245-12b2-40be-bc.jpeg\")
Samiar Nefzi <\/p>\nPublished:\u00a0August 2, 2026 at 6:29 PM<\/p>\n
MIAMI \u2014 Inside the Slam Academy gymnasium, Miami Heat star Bam Adebayo spent time answering questions from youngsters attending his annual youth basketball camp on Sunday.<\/p>\n
That hands-on approach to leadership is one of the reasons Adebayo was presented with the 2026 NBA Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Social Justice Champion Award.<\/p>\n
\u201cBoy, would have never thought we\u2019d be here,\u201d Adebayo said.<\/p>\n
From toy drives and backpack giveaways to turkey drives and working with Miami\u2019s youth, Adebayo\u2019s community efforts caught the attention of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut your unwavering commitment to extending opportunities for young people,\u201d Abdul-Jabbar said in a special video message before presenting the 29-year-old with the award.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Bam Books and Brotherhood Foundation, what it\u2019s doing for kids to be literate, into sports, you can\u2019t put a price on that kid engagement,\u201d said James Cadogan, executive director of the NBA Social Justice Coalition. \u201cBut you can tell it\u2019s authentic and from the heart.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cadogan said it was Adebayo\u2019s consistency that stood out.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not just a me thing. To get this award, you have to impact a lot of lives. I feel like I\u2019ve done that over the course of my career,\u201d Adebayo said. \u201cTo be able to finally get the award… it\u2019s not a big deal to me because I feel like impacting lives is more important.\u201d<\/p>\n
Humble is the best way to describe the nearly 7-foot star, with values he said were ingrained in him by his biggest fan \u2014 his mother.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt warms my heart when I see her smile a lot,\u201d Adebayo said. \u201cHer seeing that I\u2019m trying to do something good in this world — that goes a long way.\u201d<\/p>\n
\ud83c\udfe0 News From Your Neighborhood<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 by WPLG Local10.com – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n
Samiar Nefzi <\/p>\n
Samiar Nefzi joined the Local 10 News team in August of 2023.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Published:\u00a0August 2, 2026 at 6:29 PM MIAMI \u2014 Inside the Slam Academy gymnasium, Miami Heat star Bam Adebayo…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":800141,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[355,99],"class_list":["post-800140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/800140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=800140"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/800140\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/800141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=800140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=800140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=800140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}