For much of Heat star Bam Adebayo's career, the conversation around his performance on the defensive side of the ball has mostly focused on whether he is deserving of NBA Defensive Player of the Year accolades. He's never won it but has said he does believe he has deserved it and counts himself as the best defender in the NBA.
"Politics, you know? You can’t really help it,” Adebayo said last month about the award to Brandon Robinson. “Some dudes have power over the media and some dudes don’t."
Of course, blaming the media is the easy tack, whether it is to say that the media does not talk about Adebayo enough or that the actual media members who do the voting simply choose not to watch the Heat play. Either view is worthy of some skepticism--Adebayo has been on the NBA's All-Defense team for five straight years.
Or, more accurately, he was once All-Defense for five straight years.
On Thursday, the NBA announced its two All-Defense teams, and Adebayo was shut out of both. This was something of a stunner for those who have grown accustomed to arguing for Adebayo as the DPOY but have not considered the notion that he might not make an All-Defense team.
Bam backers were livid.
As the popular "Heat Nation" account wrote on X, "Bam Adebayo gets penalized in defensive voting because the Heat aren’t fun to watch."
Another account chimed in, "Bam Adebayo not making an All-Defensive team is such a joke."
Another dubbed, 'Vice Heat Vibes," wrote, "Voters legit MIGHT watch one game a day…And that’s prolly giving them too much credit. And that’s why we see guys like Jarren Jackson and Zubac on here over guys like Bam Adebayo. Bam is basically Draymond defense but he’s in more of a prime due to age..Yet not on here lmao."
Another fan offered, "Everyone who didn’t vote for Bam Adebayo is either a hater, or just didn’t watch him play There’s honestly no other excuse. The basic box score numbers don’t show it, but Bam is a top 3 most impactful defender in the NBA. One of the only players who’s TRULY elite at guarding 1-5."
A global media panel of 100 voters selected the 2024-25 Kia NBA All-Defensive Team.
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) May 22, 2025
Voters selected five players for the First Team and five players for the Second Team at any position.
Complete voting results ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/LlfUOe8Ei4
While there is truth to that, fact is, the Heat had a rough year and Adebayo was not great this season. He was not even close to finishing in the Top 10 of the voting, as the 10th-place finisher was Rudy Gobert, who had three first-team votes and 59 second-team votes, for 65 points.
Adebayo was 12th and had just 18 points--one first-team vote, 16 second-teams. Adebayo was very good with an overall defensive rating of 110.8 this season, but that ranks just sixth among centers with 65 games played.
Put that with the Heat's 37-45 record, and it's hard to argue for Adebayo.
