Miami Heat All-Star center Bam Adebayo said he “feels fine” after leaving Monday night’s preseason loss at Atlanta with a knee contusion.
Adebayo, 28, departed in the third quarter, finishing with 13 points and nine rebounds in 19 minutes in a 119-118 overtime loss to the Hawks.
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said the decision to keep Adebayo on the bench for the rest of the game was precautionary.
“He just landed awkwardly, but he says he feels fine,” Spoelstra said. “We’ll see when we get back to Miami. But as you saw, he was able to be out there the whole rest of the way (on the bench). I just wanted to make sure it didn’t go, any worse, so I just kind of sat him from there.”
The Heat are 0-5 heading into Friday’s preseason finale at home against the Memphis Grizzlies. Miami opens up the regular season on Oct. 22 at the Orlando Magic.
A three-time All-Star and five-time All-Defensive team selection, Adebayo averaged 18.1 points, 9.6 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 1.3 steals in 78 games (all starts).
–Field Level Media