The Heat lost big man Bam Adebayo in the second quarter of their play-in tournament game against the Hornets after Charlotte guard LaMelo Ball seemed to trip him.
He was ruled out for the remainder of the game with a lower-back injury by the Heat before they fell 127-126 in an overtime heartbreaker.
The injury occurred with 11:10 left in the second quarter after Ball had a shot attempt blocked by Simone Fontecchio of the Heat.
Ball was falling backward as he shot, leading to Adebayo trying to grab the ball from going out of bounds. That’s when the Hornets guard swiped at the left leg of the Miami big man, sending him to the ground.
Adebayo was down on the ground in pain and attended to by team trainers. No foul was assessed on the play, which infuriated Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra and several of Adebayo’s teammates.
According to The Athletic, Prime Video analyst Udonis Haslem had indicated that he didn’t think that Ball had been trying to hurt Adebayo on the play, though he did call it “a little WWE there.”
“What I will say is LaMelo is not a dirty player, so I don’t think he meant to do that intentionally to try to hurt Bam. But in the heat of the moment … you sometimes make split-second decisions. I think he made a split-second decision,” Haslem said.
Bam Adebayo of the Miami Heat reacts after a fall in the first half against the Charlotte Hornets during their game at Spectrum Center on April 14, 2026 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Getty Images The loss of Adebayo is a tough one for the Heat, who have seen him be their third-best scorer this season with 20.1 points per game and top rebounder with 10.0 per game.
Adebayo also made national headlines this year after he scored 83 points in a game against the Wizards.
To add insult to injury, Ball hit the game-winning layup in the waning seconds of overtime to give Charlotte a huge victory and end Miami’s season. The Hornets advance to play the 76ers-Magic loser for the right to be the No. 8 seed in the playoffs.
