Bam Adebayo has been playing injured. It may be as simple as that.
Bam’s struggles with inconsistency, especially on the offensive end of the floor, have been somewhat jarring to begin the year. But in an honest moment, he told reporters that it’s not just his back that has been hurting him this season.
In all likelihood, Bam has been playing through pain for most of the year. It’s just the back portion of the injury that finally forced him into a position where he could no longer play through the injuries.
When asked tonight if his back issue is the only nagging injury that has bothered him recently, Bam Adebayo said: “It wasn’t always the back. It just crept up to the back.”
— Anthony Chiang (@Anthony_Chiang) December 28, 2025
The timing of this injury just looks incredibly bad because of the Heat’s recent slump, but there’s reason to believe that lingering injuries have played a key role in Bam’s performance of late. In hand, it has also hurt the Heat as a team.
Bam’s struggles with injuries this year
Rewinding to early this year, Bam missed two weeks with a foot injury. Now dealing with a bad back, this start to the season has been anything but ideal for the perennial All-Star forward.
Even though on the surface, Bam looks to be having another good year, averaging 18 points and 10 rebounds on solid shooting percentages, there have been a few performances over the last couple of weeks that just leave you scratching your head when watching the Heat.
Over his last four games specifically, Bam is averaging just 12 points on 36 percent shooting from the field, while going 0-8 from 3-point range, and it does become quite evident that something wasn’t right with the Heat.
And now we know. Bam has been playing beat up for the last few weeks, and the back injury was the final straw before the Heat’s training staff believed that he should shut it down for a while.
It’s hard to envision how much more time Bam will miss, but you’d have to imagine, especially with the way he spoke to reporters, that he’ll miss another couple of games (at least).
One thing is for sure, though, and it’s that if the Heat are going to find their footing again this season, it’s going to be with a healthy Bam. That’s part of the reason why it just makes the most sense to shut him down now in hopes that he can be healthy for the second half of the season.
The good news for the Heat is that they’ve won both games that Bam has missed. That’s probably not sustainable, but it does buy the Heat (and Bam) more time to get his body right.