Bam Adebayo isn’t pretending the Miami Heat are going to greet the Philadelphia 76ers with a warm welcome after the way this offseason played out.
Miami spent the summer chasing LeBron James and believed it had a real shot to land him. Instead, James picked the Sixers, and that alone gives the East a fresh jolt heading into the 2025-2026 NBA season.
Adebayo made it clear this week that the message he sent James was anything but subtle.
"Like I told him in the message, I'm going to bust his [expletive]," Adebayo said with a smile to reporters this week, according to the Miami Herald. "So, it's going to be an exciting season.
I'm excited for the East. We got a whole new turnaround in the East.
So, it's going to be exciting this year."
The Heat center, who is 29, also spent the offseason watching Miami reshape its roster in a major way. Tyler Herro, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Kel'el Ware, and Kasparas Jakučionis all went to the Miami Bucks, while the Heat brought in Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bobby Portis Jr.
Antetokounmpo had been on Miami’s radar for a while. The Heat were openly pushing to be the team that pulled him out of Milwaukee before the February deadline in 2026, and they eventually got their man. That move had plenty of people thinking Miami had moved ahead of Philadelphia, but the Sixers answered with a splash of their own.
James gives Philadelphia a very different look. Even at 41, he showed with the Los Angeles Lakers that he can still score at a star level when he’s the focal point. In Philadelphia, though, he’ll be asked to use that elite basketball IQ and playmaking alongside a group of other high-end talents.
The Sixers also replaced the underwhelming Paul George with Jaylen Brown, who was the MVP of the NBA Finals just a couple of postseasons ago while wearing Celtics green. Now Brown joins a Philadelphia core that includes Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, VJ Edgecombe, and James.
Adebayo and the Heat still think they’ve got the edge. But after the way this offseason shook out, the Sixers have definitely given Miami something to think about.
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76ers Look Like They Just Dodged A Massive Kawhi Disaster
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Philadelphia's choice to pass on that path now feels even more notable because the Leonard story has only gotten messier. What once looked like a bold swing has turned into the kind of risk that can linger around a franchise long after the deal is done, and the 76ers may have avoided getting pulled into the middle of it altogether. [Read more 🡒]