Should Heat star Bam Adebayo have subbed himself out to respect Kobe Bryant?

Bam Adebayo’s 83-point game has been the most divisive event of the 2025-26 season. On the one hand, a good portion of the NBA fanbase lauded Adebayo for trying to score as many points as he could; never mind that the Miami Heat faced the lowly Washington Wizards, scoring 83 points in a single game in the toughest professional basketball league to even crack is an unbelievable achievement.

But Adebayo’s historic night has invited a plethora of criticism, especially from acolytes of the late great Kobe Bryant. Fans of the Los Angeles Lakers legend feel as though Bryant’s legacy was tarnished by Adebayo’s shameless pursuit of the 83-point mark, which, admittedly, was achieved with the help of some late-game tomfoolery and some fouling shenanigans.

Some even think that Adebayo should have stopped at 80 points or even 81 to honor Bryant’s legacy. One person who thinks that this is what the Heat star should have done is retired NBA veteran Olden Polynice, who is best known for being the other piece of the disastrous Scottie Pippen draft-night trade for the Seattle Supersonics.

“For Bam to say that Kobe is his hero, but there is a video of him saying, when they were up 79 with a minute 44 to go, he was actually saying, ‘don’t foul.’ So I have to give him credit for that, but if you really wanted to really be respectful, sub your a** out of the game,” Polynice said in an appearance on Byron Scott’s Fastbreak podcast.

“Or even if you got to 81, sub. I would’ve respected him so much more if he tied the 81 and sat down. That would’ve been some gangster stuff. Now that’s a tribute to your hero.”

Adebayo did indeed call Bryant his hero. But one would have to think that the Lakers legend, of all people, would have understood why Adebayo and the Heat did what they did to make history.

This debate is running its course. But one thing’s for sure: one thing is not up for debate, and that is Adebayo’s placement on the all-time single-game scoring list. Wilt, Bam, Kobe it is.

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