Bam Adebayo to have thumb surgery, out indefinitely

Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo will have surgery this weekend to repair a torn Ulnar Collateral Ligament in his right thumb. Adebayo suffered the injury in Monday’s game against the Nuggets but finished the game.

The expectation is that Bam will miss around 6 weeks, but that won't be determined until after the surgery. 6 weeks will keep him out until the middle of January. Not only will that hurt Miami who doesn’t have great front-court depth currently, but it will also keep Adebayo from likely becoming an All-Star this season.

The Heat, 13-8, will have to rely on Dewayne Dedmon for more production. Miami is still without Markief Morris and so we could see one of three things moving forward.

1. GO SMALL. Miami elects to go small when Dedmon leaves the floor and they play more KZ Okpala to become a versatile defensive group but one that would be really oversized. This is not ideal. Udonis Haslem could see minutes at the center which he is still a bit oversized and slow to defend the NBA’s best for extended periods.
2. GO #YRTSZN. The Heat moves Omer Yurtseven into the rotation. He clearly isn’t ready and until Morris returns, his size would be valuable for at least matching up. Yurtseven is not an able defender for the Heat to be a switch everything defense, so it would require them to adjust how they play. Miami would need Summer League Omer to show up. The Heat needs Markief Morris back and even when he is back he doesn’t solve all the problems of Bam’s absence.
3. GO SHOPPING. The Heat dip into their open roster spot and add some veteran depth to the front-court. Unfortunately, DeMarcus Cousins was just scooped up. Aron Baynes, Mike Scott, Norvelle Pelle, and Bismack Biyombo all come to mind.

This is a serious matter for the Heat and one that leaves them very little room for error moving forward.

Best of wishes to Bam on his recovery.

The Miami Heat official press release:
MIAMI, FL – The Miami HEAT announced today that Bam Adebayo suffered a torn Ulnar Collateral Ligament in his right thumb against Denver on November 29 and will undergo surgery this weekend. A timetable on his return will be provided post-surgery.

Adebayo has started in all 18 games he has appeared in this season and averaged 18.7 points, 10.2 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 1.11 steals and 32.9 minutes while shooting 51.9 percent from the field.