Bam Adebayo is confident shooting slump will ‘turn around’

Bam Adebayo’s shooting woes — especially near the rim — have been one of, if not the most disappointing developments through the first 19 games of the Miami Heat’s 2024-25 season.

Most recently, against the reigning champion Boston Celtics, Adebayo scored 15 points on 6-of-18 shooting, with four of his six made field goals coming in a blowout fourth quarter. Most damning, however, is he shot just 4-of-12 from the paint, including just 1-of-4 at the rim.

Adebayo opened up about his shooting struggles after Monday’s 108-89 loss, hinting that it’s just a matter of time before his shooting positively regresses to the mean.

“It’s human nature,” Adebayo said regarding his struggles. “For me, it’s not losing confidence in who I am. It’s not overthinking the game too much because then you’ll start making other mistakes. It’s one of those things where (I’m) just missing shots.

“I don’t really look at it no more than that. I feel like, at some point, the shot is going to turn around, and then it’s up from there.”

For the season, Adebayo’s averaging just 15.6 points, his lowest since becoming a full-time starter in 2019-20, on 41.9 percent shooting–the worst field goal percentage of his career by nearly 10 percentage points.

The crux of the 27-year-old’s shooting struggles hasn’t been from 3-point range or on long 2s–but around the rim.

Adebayo is making just 57.5 percent of his attempts at the rim and 35 percent of his short 2s (~4-14 ft); those marks place in the 16th and 35th percentile amongst other bigs, respectively, according to Cleaning The Glass. Those are also the lowest marks of his career in those respective areas (min. 100 FGA from each area).

For perspective, he shot roughly 67 percent (39th percentile) at the rim and 50 percent (79th percentile) on short 2s last season; in 2022-23, he shot 68 percent (38th percentile) and 47 percent (69th percentile). It’s only a 19-game sample, but this year’s marks are very concerning given he’s not getting to the rim as often, settling for tough fadeaway 2s. His touch is off, and it’s becoming a mental battle.

When over 75 percent of your shot diet comes from those two specific areas, you need to be efficient, which he hasn’t been. It may be a blip in the radar when it’s all said and done, but the Heat needs Adebayo to figure it out sooner rather than later.

We already know that Miami’s been  around the rim–and Adebayo has been a byproduct of that. While he has arguably been the Heat’s most impactful playmaker, his shooting woes limit their offensive ceiling–which isn’t very high, to begin with–even if he’s not tasked to be the team’s primary scoring option offensively.