On Saturday, Miami Heat star Bam Adebayo spoke at his sixth annual basketball clinic in Miami, where he was asked a variety of questions about the team's offseason. When asked about the Heat bringing back Davion Mitchell, Adebayo had rave reviews for his two-month teammate.
“Davion being back, obviously, we’ve been missing somebody that can really play on-ball defense,” Adebayo said. “And having him come in and be that guy and understand his role, I’m looking forward to him being here for a full year and all of us being together and getting to know one another and turning this into more of a brotherhood."
Bam also on retaining Davion Mitchell
— Heat Culture (@HeatCulture13) August 2, 2025
“Davion being back, obviously we’ve been missing somebody that can really play on ball defense. I’m looking forward to him being here a full year and all of us being together and getting to know one another and turning this into more of a… https://t.co/NbJsUphvRx pic.twitter.com/6cuW4W5KBo
Interestingly enough, Adebayo elaborated on the difficulties of incorporating three new players after a saga that saw the team lose the player most responsible for two Finals runs in five seasons.
"We were kind of disconnected a little bit trying to figure out everybody’s role and trying to figure out everybody’s style of play. ," Adebayo said. "But now we’re going to have a good training camp and then we go from there.”
In 34 games with the Heat, (including the Playoffs), Mitchell averaged 10.9 points, 5.4 assists and 2.7 rebounds in 32 minutes, converting on 54 percent of his field goal and 45 percent of his threes.
Additionally, the Heat were more than eight points per 100 possessions better with Mitchell on the floor than without him, same thing with their defensive rating. As a result, the Heat and Mitchell agreed on a two-year, $24 million deal earlier this summer.
The Heat traded for Mitchell shortly after trading away Jimmy Butler, sending PJ Tucker, a second-round draft pick and cash for the 26 year-old, who was the ninth pick in the 2021 draft.
After a pleasantly surprising summer, the tide of opinions seems to be shifting on the Miami Heat. All three co-hosts of ESPN's The Hoop Collective podcast agreed that the projected win total for the Heat was too low, going with the over on 37.5 wins for the 2025-2026 season.
"I don't like betting on the Heat to be a losing team. I know they were last year. I think Tyler Herro, Bam Adebayo, Norm Powell in the Eastern Conference, they won't have the Jimmy saga unfolding and sucking the soul out of the team for the first half of the season," Tim McMahon said. "Obviously I don't have to talk about [Erik Spoelstra's] credentials as a head coach. I'm going to take the over here."
Tim MacMahon, Brian Windhorst, and Tim Bontemps are taking the OVER on 37 wins for the Miami HEAT:
— Heat Diehards (@HeatDiehards) July 29, 2025
MacMahon: "I don't like betting on the HEAT to be a losing team... I think Tyler Herro, Bam Adebayo, and Norm Powell in the Eastern Conference. They won’t have the Jimmy saga… pic.twitter.com/EvoghVN7qw
The Heat finished the season with a 37-45 record, getting historically swept by the first-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers after being the first tenth seed in history to make the Playoffs.
"My best bet on the entire board. Taking over on the 37.5. The Heat last year had the fifth most clutch games in the league. 42 of them. They went 14-28. They're not going to do that again, and while doing that they won 37 games. So in non-clutch games they were 23-17. They're going to be better than 37 wins. And like you said big man Bam Adebayo had a bad year last year. He will be better," Tim Bontemps said. "They had the Jimmy thing hanging over him for half the year. I suspect they're going to be decently better this year especially because, again, like the Pacers they're going to be trying to win games in the East. And they're they're going to be a lot of games to win. So I think that number is too low."
This summer, they swapped out Kyle Anderson and Kevin Love for Powell, Duncan Robinson for Simone Fontecchio, drafted Kasparas Jakučionis with the No. 20 pick and re-signed Davion Mitchell.
"I agree, I think they're going to try to win," Brian Windhorst said. "They may improve during the year I'm going over."
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