ESPN acknowledges the obvious about Miami Heat Olympian

There are perks to being the coach of the U.S. Olympic team.

Fame. Glory. Travel. Yeah, all of that. But more than anything else, it's the right to choose the players you want, along with the USA Basketball's managing director Grant Hill.

And, no matter what any national NBA media member projects, there is no way that Erik Spoelstra is leaving two-time gold medalist Bam Adebayo behind.

Spoelstra has defended Adebayo with more gusto than any other player during his head coaching tenure, the longest in professional sports, dating all the way back to 2008. The Miami Heat drafted Adebayo out of Kentucky halfway through that tenure, and Adebayo has grown from the 14th overall pick to the anchor of the Heat defense, a two-time NBA Finalist and the captain who succeeded the revered Udonis Haslem -- with Haslem's blessing.

And with Spoelstra's.

So NBA observers, who aren't as in tune with the Heat, may toss out Detroit's Jalen Duren, Oklahoma City's Chet Holmgren and Cleveland's Evan Mobley as threats to take Adebayo's spot, but that won't actually occur. Adebayo will be there with one or two of them, but they won't be all there in place of him.

Erik Spoelstra on Bam Adebayo’s DPOY case:

“There’s no question about it. This year, as much as any, he’s proven he should be in consideration for Defensive Player of the Year. He’s defended in every scheme at the highest level.

When he’s on the floor, our defense is probably… pic.twitter.com/anO2QIVvkW
— Heat Diehards (@HeatDiehards) February 23, 2026

Just listen to how Spoelstra spoke of Adebayo on Monday after practice:

“There’s no question about it, this year, as much as any, he’s proven he should be in consideration for Defensive Player of the Year. He’s defended in every scheme at the highest level."
Spoelstra

So, yes, ESPN's Zach Kram is correct in assuming that Adebayo will be on the USA's final 12-man roster in Los Angeles in 2028, should he want to be. In an article posted on ESPN.com on Monday, Kram had this to say about Adebayo and the field.

This positional grouping might feature the most changes between 2024 and 2028. The three big men from Team USA's roster in Paris will all be in their 30s by 2028 -- Bam Adebayo (30), Joel Embiid (34) and Anthony Davis (35) -- and small-ball center options Durant and James are even older.....

If Embiid and Davis want to play, then Team USA might keep their spots reserved. But it's hard to predict whether either will be healthy next season, let alone 2½ years from now. Two-time gold medalist Adebayo, meanwhile, doesn't have as high a ceiling as Embiid or Davis, but he has three advantages to return to the roster: He's younger, less injury-prone and coached by Spoelstra, who has worked with him in Miami for his entire NBA career.

The next set of bigs includes the past two Americans to win Defensive Player of the Year, Evan Mobley and Jaren Jackson Jr., and the player who might join them this season, Chet Holmgren. All three are superb defenders who can space the floor on the other end, though Jackson's candidacy could be marred by his weak national team performance at the 2023 World Cup.
Kram

Those three advantages for Adebayo will prove to be overwhelming, so Kram is right to put him on his final list. He has Adebayo either starting ahead of, or backing up, Holmgren. Then Kram gives Duren the third center slot, ahead of Mobley.

Adebayo would actually be one of only two 30-year-old's on the team of 12, along with Boston's Jayson Tatum; this assumes that the NBA doesn't take Kevin Durant or Stephen Curry, should either or both want to play, and Durant has recently made it clear he does. But Hill and Spoelstra may want to go younger.

Old man Adebayo? Maybe. Olympian Adebayo is a given, however, as long as Spoelstra is on the sideline.