Tyler Herro Addresses Bam Adebayo Fight for First Time: ‘Trying to Move Past All of It’

A sudden rash of drama hit the NBA like a ton of bricks over the weekend with the news of Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo’s physical altercation in Las Vegas amid summer league play.

The two were teammates for the past seven seasons in Miami and appeared quite close at times. But Herro’s tenure with the Heat came to an end last month when the team gave him up in a huge trade package for Giannis Antetokounmpo. Shortly thereafter, a series of social media posts emerged that contained messages Herro allegedly sent to another user disparaging Adebayo’s talents.

Which leads us to Friday morning. Adebayo reportedly approached Herro while the high-scoring guard was with his AAU team to confront him about the posts. Herro responded, and Adebayo punched him in the face “without hesitation.” It took no time at all for the news to circulate that the pair had got into a fight; at the time Herro said he had no comment on the situation to Heat reporter Ira Winderman, while nothing came out of Adebayo’s camp.

The days since have been rife with discourse about the situation, authored most prominently by the one and only Draymond Green. But on Tuesday, one of the parties involved finally addressed the situation head-on.

Several days after the fight, Herro told ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne he wanted to move on.

“Honestly, I'm just trying to move past all of it," Herro said. "I'm focused on Milwaukee and building something special. They obviously just traded the greatest player in their history, so we want to come in and help continue what they've been doing.”

Shelburne’s story includes several new pieces of information surrounding the altercation as well.

“Sources with knowledge of the encounter told ESPN that Adebayo struck Herro near his chin, although descriptions of the nature of the physical contact is in some dispute,” Shelburne reported. “Herro did not get knocked to the ground, according to sources with knowledge of the interaction, who added that he was restrained by others in the gym from responding physically.”

Shelburne also shed some light into the relationship between Herro and Adebayo. Along with Jimmy Butler, the two made two runs to the NBA Finals, including in the Orlando bubble playoffs. They were annual playoff contenders with the Heat in other years with several grueling postseason runs. That doesn’t make them best friends, but there is a certain camaraderie born from the sharing of such experiences. There was real blood, sweat and tears shed together—how did things get to this point?

Shelburne reports Herro’s injury this past season and struggles to adjust to Miami’s new offense played big roles—as did Adebayo’s public comments about the need for Herro to get with the program.

“Heat sources told ESPN that Adebayo and Herro had a mostly good relationship during their time as teammates, but had grown apart over the past year as Herro played in just 33 games due to various injuries and struggled to adjust to changes to the team's new offensive scheme,” she wrote. “On several occasions, Adebayo made comments suggesting Herro needed to do more to fit into the new scheme ... It was a common refrain from Adebayo, who is the Heat's captain, that team sources said wore on Herro as he tried to come back from ankle, toe and rib injuries and heard his name in trade discussions for Antetokounmpo in February.”

A tense situation that boiled over in Las Vegas.

It remains to be seen if Adebayo will be addressing the situation as well, but for now, it seems Herro is done talking about it.

More NBA from Sports Illustrated

Listen to SI’s NBA podcast, Open Floor, below or on Apple and Spotify. Watch the show on SI’s YouTube channel.

Add us as a preferred source on Google