Pat Riley, Miami Heat have no intentions of moving off All-Star center Bam Adebayo

Contrary to some reports from this week, Miami Heat president Pat Riley appears adamant that Bam Adebayo isn’t leaving South Beach anytime soon.

On Tuesday morning, Jake Fischer of Yahoo! Sports — a well-respected news breaker in the NBA world — reported that the Portland Trail Blazers were “preparing what the team believes to be a compelling package for Miami to part with All-Defensive centerpiece Bam Adebayo” in a trade scenario with the Heat that would team Adebayo up with seven-time NBA All-Star Damian Lillard in Portland.

To add more fuel, earlier this month, Lillard talked publicly about his friendship with Adebayo, saying that “Bam is my dog, for real.” The two were teammates for Team USA during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

However, it didn’t take long for Riley, who played at Kentucky under head coach Adolph Rupp from 1964-67, to essentially shoot down the prospect of Miami shipping Adebayo off to Portland. The Heat are coming off its second NBA Finals appearance in four seasons where Adebayo, who spent one season at UK in 2016-17, has been the franchise’s second-best player behind Jimmy Butler in both postseason runs.

Riley spoke with reporters on Tuesday to discuss the state of the franchise, speaking highly of both Adebayo and another former Wildcat important to the current roster in Tyler Herro, who suited up for Kentucky in the 2018-19 season.

“We have a good young core of guys we didn’t have then (during Miami’s Big 3 era with LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh) — we have Bam [Adebayo] and we have Tyler [Herro], who have turned into stars and they’re young. We have a great base with Bam and Tyler,” Riley said according to the Miami Herald. “And we have a great superstar with Jimmy Butler.

“We have the best coach (Erik Spoelstra). I’m feeling good today. I don’t want to go through another pause.”

Riley also went out of his way to talk up Herro, who was sidelined for the vast majority of the playoffs due to a broken shooting hand he suffered in Game 1 of the opening round against the Milwaukee Bucks. Herro’s name has also been brought up in trade rumors over the last year or so.

“He gets bigger in the biggest of moments,” Riley said of Herro. “We’ve seen it time and again, in the bubble and here. We’ve got two anchors in Bam and Tyler. We missed Tyler [when he was injured in the playoffs]. People don’t understand how lethal he is in those moments.”

Back in February, Riley was especially optimistic about Adebayo, who just wrapped up his sixth season and second All-Star run, spending his entire NBA career in Miami.

“It’s been a blessing to have him,” Riley said earlier this year. “I go back to (Alonzo Mourning) and Zo was a franchise face, and then Dwyane (Wade) along with Udonis (Haslem), and now I look at Bam the same way because of longevity. I see Bam here, I hope, for his whole career.”

Fischer even stated in his own reporting that Miami has “not pondered a further without (Adebayo) starring in the frontcourt.”

The Heat were previously involved in trade talks with former Washington Wizards shooting guard Bradley Beal, although he was sent to the Phoenix Suns on Sunday to team up with another fellow one-time ‘Cat, Devin Booker. While Riley does seem intent on modifying Miami’s roster ahead of the 2023-24 season, the sense is that he would prefer to add pieces around a core of Butler, Adebayo, and Herro as opposed to moving any of the three in a trade.

During the 2022-23 season with Miami, Adebayo averaged a career-high 20.4 points, 9.2 rebounds, and 3.2 assists per outing while shooting 54.0 percent from the floor. He was named to his fourth All-Defensive Team in the process.