Pat Riley shuts down trade talk, hopes Bam Adebayo is with the Heat his entire career

The Miami Heat lost the 2023 NBA Finals, and as such, they have been under a spotlight over the last few weeks. How can they improve to become the best team in the NBA? That will be the offseason question for Miami.

Jimmy Butler is the team’s star, and it seems like, to the media, everyone outside of him is dispensable.

Players like Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo have been thrown around as trade targets for teams looking to deal a superstar for a young cornerstone.

Adebayo is 25 and just now entering his prime, so general manager Pat Riley isn’t exactly to move the star center. There have been rumors linking Adebayo to Damian Lillard and the Portland Trail Blazers, who have the No. 3 overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft.

Riley shut those down, though, as he doesn’t want his franchise to go through another rebuilding phase if things don’t work out in a potential trade for a superstar.

“We have a good young core of guys we didn’t have then (during Miami’s Big 3 era with LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh) — we have Bam [Adebayo] and we have Tyler [Herro], who have turned into stars and they’re young. We have a great base with Bam and Tyler. And we have a great superstar with Jimmy Butler,” Riley said per the Miami Herald. “We have the best coach (Erik Spoelstra). I’m feeling good today. I don’t want to go through another pause.”

The 6-foot-9 Adebayo was taken out of Kentucky by the Heat with the 14th pick in the 2017 NBA Draft.

He wasn’t a budding star his first few seasons, but he earned his second All-Star appearance last year, averaging a career-high 20.4 points per game. Adebayo is also arguably the most versatile defensive player in the NBA.

He will enter his seventh season in the NBA next year and has three seasons left on his contract, making $37 million in the 2025-2026 season.

Expect Adebayo to be with the Heat for the remainder of his contract, especially given how much Riley seemingly likes having the young star on the roster.