Two of the NBA's Mount Rushmore reached out to Bam Adebayo after his historic night

The magic of sports was on full display on a seemingly random Tuesday night in March against the Washington Wizards as records were broken in perhaps the most unfathomable of fashions.

It would've been an incredible achievement for anyone to usurp Kobe Bryant's 81-point game, considered to be the greatest modern-day single-game scoring peformance. But, even with as excellent of a player as Bam Adebayo is, a defensive-first star like him scoring 83 points in one game might have been the closest to a one-in-a-million moment as you can get in sports, and the NBA's greatest took notice.

"Man, it's a lot of them," Adebayo said during an interview on ESPN's NBA Countdown, answering questions about the people who have reached out to him after his accomplishment. "I mean, LeBron [James], Joel [Embiid], all my teammates from the past, [Dwyane] Wade, [Udonis Haslem], Michael Jordan."

Michael Jordan, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade were among the many that sent Bam Adebayo messages to congratulate him on his 83-pt game 🙌 pic.twitter.com/IXl7SnAVkc
— ESPN (@espn) March 11, 2026

After mentioning Jordan, the ESPN crew was surprised, perhaps for good reason, as Jordan is not a guy who necessarily is known for his camaraderie with current NBA players, mostly just doing his own thing off to the side. They followed up, wanting to know what the six-time champ had to say to him.

"Just congratulations, very short. Short and sweet," Adebayo responded. "If you know Mike, he's not talking a lot."

Adebayo converted on 20 of 43 field goal attempts, seven of 22 from three, 36 of 43 from the free throw line (both new records), along with nine rebounds, three assists, two steals and two blocks.

He also broke LeBron James' career-high in points, (61), which also was the previous franchise single-game scoring record, through three quarters.

Additionally, he shattered the Heat's previous franchise records for most points in a quarter (31) and most points in a half (43).

For the season, the three-time All-Star and two-time Olympic gold medalist, (only one in Heat history, by the way), is averaging 20 points, 9.8 rebounds, 2.9 assists, 1.1 steals and 0.7 blocks in 58 games this season, converting on 44.8 percent of his field goals, 78.2 percent of his free throws and 32.9 percent of his threes.

For more Miami Heat information and conversation, check out Off The Floor.

Alexander Toledo is a contributor to Miami Heat On SI and producer/co-host of the Five on the Floor podcast, covering the Heat and NBA. He can be reached at Twitter: @tropicalblanket

Two of the NBA's Mount Rushmore reached out to Bam Adebayo after his historic night

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For more Miami Heat information and conversation, check out Off The Floor.

Alexander Toledo is a contributor to Miami Heat On SI and producer/co-host of the Five on the Floor podcast, covering the Heat and NBA. He can be reached at Twitter: @tropicalblanket