Growing up with his mother in a single-wide trailer in North Carolina, Bam Adebayo knew she had to “wheel and deal” to juggle all of their challenges, but it wasn’t until he was in high school that he realized she didn’t even own that modest residence. At that point, he began dreaming of helping her “own something that she could say, ‘This is mine,’ and feel good about it,” he said Monday.
After realizing a dream of his own by agreeing to a lucrative contract extension last month with the Miami Heat, Adebayo’s top priority was taking care of his mother, Marilyn Blount. With the help of team staffers, he got that done in short order — on her 56th birthday, no less — and on Monday he talked about how sharing the experience with her was akin to how he felt in the NBA Finals this year.
“I was so nervous, because I never really gave her a gift like that,” the 23-year-old Adebayo said to reporters of Blount, who has recently been living in the same Miami apartment building as him, on a different floor. “So it kind of gave me like a feel like when I first stepped on the Finals court. I didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t know anything at the moment.
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“It was like one of those awe moments, where you just sit there for a minute. She enjoyed it.”
In an Instagram post showing the arrival of Adebayo and his mother to her new home, a photo is prominently displayed near the front door. It is of the trailer where she raised him as a single mother who instilled in him a work ethic that has fueled his ascent to NBA stardom.
“I wanted it by the front of the door because I wanted everybody to see where we actually came from,” the all-star forward said. “And that doesn’t matter who walks in. You’re going to always see that picture … and how I was raised and what I went through, the struggle to get my mom a brand new crib, and the conditions she lived in.”
“Their relationship is so special,” Heat Coach Erik Spoelstra said of Adebayo and Blount (via ESPN). “He’s making us all look bad. Now I’m feeling guilty. I have a great relationship with my mom and haven’t done anything like that — something to show her how much I care about her and love her, but I will now. I watched that. … It’s a beautiful relationship that just gives you a little bit of an indication behind the curtain of who Bam is, as a person, as a son. And what really matters to him in this life.”
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Adebayo was a five-star recruit who played at the University of Kentucky, so he was very much on the radar of NBA scouts, but during his one season with the Wildcats he was overshadowed by the team’s talented backcourt of De’Aaron Fox and Malik Monk. While those two were drafted fifth and 11th, respectively, in the 2017 NBA draft, the 6-foot-9 Adebayo wasn’t far behind at No. 14 after Spoelstra and the Heat’s front office were impressed with his workouts.
Miami’s sense that he had untapped potential has been proven right. Adebayo blossomed into an all-star last season, and his averages of 15.2 points, 10.2 rebounds and 5.1 assists were equaled in all three categories by just one other NBA player, Milwaukee Bucks superstar and two-time reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo.
However, Adebayo did not truly come into his own until the league’s coronavirus-delayed postseason at its bubble near Orlando, where he led the fifth-seeded Heat to a series win against the Indiana Pacers, an upset of Antetokounmpo’s top-seeded Bucks and then an Eastern Conference championship over the Boston Celtics. Adebayo authored that series’ signature moment with a Game 1-sealing block of Celtics star Jayson Tatum’s dunk attempt in overtime, and he posted a career-high 32 points, plus 14 rebounds and five assists in a Game 6 win that got Miami to the NBA Finals.
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The playoff run ended with a 4-2 Finals loss to LeBron James, Anthony Davis and the Los Angeles Lakers, but the Heat had seen more than enough to reward Adebayo with a five-year extension worth $163 million.
“Just being able to reach this milestone and being able to generationally change my family’s life and also take care of the people around me,” he said at the time, “it’s a big deal to me.”
It was a big deal to his mother, as well, to judge from her reaction.
“The moment she had on her face was priceless,” Adebayo said Monday. “Just seeing that woman go through all she went through, and finally getting a break and being able to say, ‘This is mine,’ and, ‘I own this,’ that was a big thing for me.
“My mom never had nothing that she could call her own,” he added. “So growing up, and being able to do something different with basketball and be a special player, that was something that I’ve always had in my mind, I’ve always wanted to do. And just having the opportunity to do it for my mom is an incredible experience.”
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