Bam Adebayo snubbed as finalist for Defensive Player of the Year

The Miami Heat ran a spirited campaign for Bam Adebayo to win Defensive Player of the Year. But Adebayo won’t win the award — in fact, he wasn’t even one of the three finalists.

The NBA announced that Ben Simmons, Rudy Gobert and Draymond Green are the finalists for this year’s award. Gobert won the award in 2018 and 2019, while Green won it in 2017. Simmons has not won the award. Adebayo was named to the All-Defensive Second Team last year.

The snub of Adebayo virtually ensures that his five-year contract extension will remain at the $163 million level. The contract would have risen if the Heat big man was awarded the Defensive Player of the Year, was named to the All-NBA First Team or won the MVP. Nikola Jokic and Joel Embiid will likely prevent Adebayo from the All-NBA or MVP nods.

Adebayo himself responded to the news on Twitter, offering a succinct reply.