The Miami Heat kicked off the 2025-26 regular season guns blazing, but they’ve fallen back to earth over the last week or so. They are losers of three of their last four games and recently suffered just their second double-digit defeat of the season at the hands of the Denver Nuggets.
To pour salt in the wound, the Heat also lost one of the top two-way centers in the league in the Nuggets game. Big man Bam Adebayo left in the first quarter with a toe injury, and according to Five Reasons Sports’ Greg Sylvander, the “word on the street” is that he could be sidelined for a number of weeks.
Sylvander did caution that that timetable is unconfirmed.
“I haven’t heard a definitive timetable….so please take this with relative grain of salt….but word on the street is 3-6 weeks is the range,” he wrote via Discord on Thursday.
The Heat are now going to be without two of their top players for their looming contest against the Charlotte Hornets on Friday night. Along with the fact that Adebayo is on the shelf for Miami, the team’s leading scorer and playmaker from last season — guard Tyler Herro — has yet to make his season debut as he recovers from left ankle surgery.
But if there’s anything positive to take away from Adebayo’s absence, it’s that young big Kel’el Ware will likely get more playing time and touches as a result. He’s averaging just 20.3 minutes per game so far this season, and he actually logged more playing time on a game-to-game basis when he was a rookie last season.
Ware has already put together some really impressive statistical showings as a sophomore with the limited minutes he’s played. For example, he totaled 16 points, five rebounds and a pair of blocks in just under 18 minutes of action against the Los Angeles Clippers earlier this week. He then had a double-double with 13 points, 13 boards and several steals against Denver.
The No. 15 overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft will hopefully take advantage of a likely larger role in Adebayo’s absence, but it’s imperative to the team’s playoff hopes that Adebayo is on the floor and healthy for as many as games as possible this season. With any luck, assuming that timetable is accurate, Adebayo will sit out closer to three weeks than six.