In making sense of Bam Adebayo’s historic night, a couple of things became clear.
For one, the exasperation and handwringing is bordering on the absurd. For another, Adam Silver may have inadvertently found the NBA’s solution for tanking.
In what has become the most unexpected individual performance in NBA history, the Miami Heat center dropped 83 points Tuesday, March 10, against the Washington Wizards. It was a singular achievement, one in which he surpassed late Lakers icon Kobe Bryant (81) for second-most points in a single game in history.
Some corners of the Internet whined that Adebayo required 43 free-throw attempts and 36 conversions — both NBA records — to make history.
Make no mistake: his night should be celebrated. You’d be hard-pressed to find many humans who can scratch 83 on their own driveways, let alone an actual NBA game.
Bam Adebayo’s 83-point game is cause for celebration
On a random Tuesday in March, the entire pro basketball world was glued to a game only available on local broadcasts. Players in other arenas on the West Coast watched the final minutes on their phones or got updates as Adebayo eclipsed Bryant, one of the idols for this generation actively playing in the league.
In many ways, Adebayo’s 83-bomb defies logic. He’s a 16.1-point-per-game career scorer. His previous career high was 41, which he had surpassed by halftime. It also means he more than doubled that previous career best. There are so many other statistical oddities that make Adebayo’s performance difficult to comprehend.
This was a player chasing greatness and his coaches and teammates facilitating that pursuit. It was a joyous occasion, one that brought awareness to a team captain who prides himself on defensive effort — something often lacking in the league — and a player whose humble beginnings in a single-wide trailer in North Carolina are now being amplified to the masses.
Social media tends to suck the joy from things. The temptation is to measure Adebayo’s game against Kobe and Wilt Chamberlain, but that’s largely reductive. In a vacuum, this was simply an unprecedented display of athletic greatness. Commemorate that.
Tanking tactics meet Bam Adebayo’s historic night
And, perhaps unintentionally, Adebayo also delivered a solution to the NBA’s issue on tanking: if teams are willingly self-sabotaging and compromising their integrity, shame them into infamy.
“There was a lot of fouls called — 16 free throws in the fourth quarter,” Wizards coach Brian Keefe said of Adebayo after the game. “Just trying to take the ball out of his hands. He still got some free throws 40 feet away from the rim — can’t explain those calls. That’s all I got to say on that.”
This is exactly what getting embarrassed should feel like. Washington, losers of nine consecutive games, has become a willing doormat as it plans for the future, a common practice for rebuilding teams.
But rather than bemoan officiating, Keefe should explain why the most intense defense his team has played all season came in the final minutes of the fourth, when Washington triple-teamed Adebayo and tried to deny him on inbounds passes. The Wizards, at one point, even intentionally fouled Heat forward Keshad Johnson to put him on the line instead of Adebayo.
Perhaps if the Wizards had exerted this much effort night in and night out, they wouldn’t have been in this position.
Washington is the (proud?) owner of the NBA’s worst defense, allowing 120.6 points per 100 possessions. But it’s the team’s apathy and inability to do anything but foul Adebayo that put the Wizards in this spot.
“The fourth quarter just turned into not a real basketball game,” Keefe added.
He’s not totally wrong; Miami committed an intentional foul with 1:41 left in the game while up 27, in an attempt to get Adebayo more looks. Johnson, in an effort to one-up Washington’s intentional foul on him, tried to direct the ball to Adebayo with an intentionally missed free throw. Heat coach Erik Spoelstra even challenged an Adebayo offensive foul with 2:56 left when Miami was up 25.
But what Keefe gets wrong is that the integrity of this game was compromised months ago, before a single player stepped onto the floor Tuesday night.
Washington, not-so-subtly, has been engaged in a tanking effort over the past three months, if not multiple seasons. And because the team’s 2026 first-round selection is Top-8 protected, the Wizards are doing everything they can to ensure it stays with the franchise.
Trae Young, whom the Wizards acquired Jan. 7, missed Tuesday’s game and has played for Washington just twice. Anthony Davis, acquired Feb. 4, hasn’t made a single appearance for the Wizards.
All of this begs the question: if a supremely talented player but average scorer like Adebayo could go on a heater and explode for 83 points on Washington, will other players now hunt the Wizards?
If Washington continues to self-sabotage, they might as well.
Later this month, the Wizards play the Thunder and Knicks in consecutive nights. What’s to stop Shai Gilgeous-Alexander or Jalen Brunson from trying for 85? Then, on March 30, the Wizards will travel to face the Lakers and the NBA’s leading scorer, Luka Dončić.
The thing that should endure in all of this, however, is Adebayo. As the NBA tries to compete with other sports for viewership and attention, stories like his and performances like these deserve amplification.
“Wilt, me, then Kobe,” a reflective Adebayo told reporters after the game. “It sounds crazy.”