MIAMI, FL – The NBA announced today that Bam Adebayo was named to the 2023-24 NBA All-Defensive First Team, earning the third-most points with 168 (73 First Team votes and 22 Second Team votes). This marks the 19th time in team history a HEAT player has earned All-Defensive honors, including the sixth on the First Team.
Adebayo has now become just the third player in team history to earn First Team honors, joining LeBron James (three times) and Alonzo Mourning (twice). It is his fifth consecutive NBA All-Defensive Team selection, the most selections in franchise history.
Adebayo, who finished third in Defensive Player of the Year voting this season, appeared in 71 games (all starts) and averaged 19.3 points, a team-high 10.4 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 1.14 steals and 34.0 minutes while shooting 52.1 percent from the field.
Adebayo helped anchor a defense that ranked third in points allowed per game, opponent field goals made per game and opponent offensive rebounds per game. He helped the HEAT hold opponents to under their scoring average in Miami’s final 29 games, doing so by an average of -11.4 points per game over that span, the third-longest streak in NBA history.
Adebayo led the team in rebounds a team-high 53 times, in blocks a team-high 29 times and in steals on 16 occasions while setting single-season career bests in defensive rebounds, total rebounds and double-doubles. He became the first player in franchise history to record at least 15 points, 15 rebounds, six assists and six blocks in a single game, doing so on January 24 vs. Memphis. He then posted 15 points, 16 rebounds and five steals on March 24 vs. Cleveland, becoming just the second player in team history to hit at least those totals, joining only Glen Rice in 1993.
Adebayo also grabbed a season-high 20 rebounds, including a career-high 18 defensive rebounds, in a win on January 15 at Brooklyn. Additionally, Adebayo posted at least 20 points and 10 rebounds in five-straight games twice, first from November 6th through the 14th and again from January 5th through the 14th, becoming the only player to accomplish the feat multiple times in the same season and just the third player in team history to ever do so in at least five games, joining only LeBron James and Shaquille O’Neal.
