Bam Adebayo has a pitch ready for De’Aaron Fox if he’s interested in joining the Miami Heat.
With trade rumors swirling around the Kings potentially trading Fox, Adebayo would love to join forces with his close friend and college teammate.
“That’s my man,” Adebayo told Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald. “That’s my college roommate. Our relationship, for me, I think is very solid. I was in his wedding, I was a groomsman. That just shows the level of respect. That just shows the level of respect and obviously the bond that we have.”
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Fox and Adebayo were teammates in college, starring for Kentucky before shining in the NBA.
While Adebayo has not directly spoken to Fox about joining him on the Heat, he believes that Miami’s coaching stability with Erik Spoelstra is enticing to any player in the NBA.
“To me, if I consider you like family like De’Aaron, I’m not going to lie to you,” Adebayo explained to Chiang. “You’re getting a coach that’s not going to let you go below your standard and sometimes that does get annoying. Sometimes that does rub you the wrong way. But it’s a coach that expects more out of you because he sees something.
“When you have a coach like that, you can’t take that for granted. There have been many coaches in some organizations that they’re there for a season. How are you supposed to bank equity with a coach who’s only there for a season, two seasons? You can’t really hone in and become something when it’s like that. For us, we got a coach that’s going to be here for a very long time that really cares about winning, but also cares about us.”
NBA
The Heat are looking to move on from disgruntled superstar Jimmy Butler, so the franchise is seeking a partner ahead of the Feb. 6th trade deadline. Still, it appears that Sacramento is not all that interested in shipping Fox to Miami.
The Kings recently informed Fox they would be open to discussing potentially trading him, ESPN's Shams Charania reported Tuesday morning.
However, it seems more likely that Sacramento would make a deal with the San Antonio Spurs over the Heat at this point. There’s also the possibility that the Kings just ride out the remainder of the season with Fox before the 27-year-old is eligible for free agency this summer.
That won’t stop Adebayo from pitching his old college roommate on the wonders of the “Heat Culture” and the franchise's stability.