Miami Heat's Bam Adebayo playing it safe as NBA season returns

Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo is taking an optimistic approach to the restart of the NBA season.

He's also being realistic.

Adebayo is ready to get back on the court but knows some players will pay the ultimate price when play resumes July 30 in Orlando. A 22-team field will play eight regular season games before starting the postseason. The Heat are currently the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference.

"I hope nobody gets injured," Adebayo said Tuesday on a conference call with local reporters. "But I think a lot of people will be injured because of the whole five months being off and pretty much trying to speed it up and then you play eight games and go straight to the playoffs."

The season has been suspended since March 11 when Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert tested positive for coronavirus. With play set to reboot, Adebayo was among a group of young players who inquired about the league providing added insurance in case of injury. The others involved were Jayson Tatum (Boston Celtics), De'Aaron Fox (Sacramento Kings), Kyle Kuzma (Los Angeles Lakers and Donovan Mitchell (Utah Jazz).

Adebayo's health is a major concern considering he is eligible for a rookie-scale extension July 1 that could net at least $100 million. Adebayo said he has no plans of sitting out and neither do any of his teammates. They just want a safety net in case of injury.

"Our thing was, 'Look, we're all due for extensions and we want to make sure that going into this bubble, we are safe, and we don't get hurt,"' Adebayo said. "If we get hurt, we still have some backup.' "

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