Miami Heat’s Nigerian-born star, Edrice Femi ‘Bam’ Adebayo has escaped the disciplinary hammer of USA’s National Basketball Association (NBA), as the officials opted to overlook his recent physical assault on a former teammate, Tyler Herro.
Sports247 gathered that this development comes in contrast with initial widespread speculation that Adebayo could be hit with a suspension by the NBA hierarchy, for allegedly slapping Herro before a recent Summer League against his former pal’s new team, Milwaukee Bucks.
Rather than slam either of the players for their altercation before the game in Las Vegas, the NBA noted that no charges were pressed by any of the individuals who were involved in the fray, while their clubs did not officially acknowledge the face-off.
With both players and their clubs seemingly pushing the matter aside, the basketball governing body subsequently kept mum, while asserting that both Adebayo and Herro had tacitly opted to move on.
There was also a hint that officials of USA’s National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) had intervened to an extent in pouring cold water over the clash between the ex-teammates.
The NBA stated in a very short repsonse to the eruption, “After discussing with the players involved and the NBPA, everyone would prefer to move on from this unfortunate circumstance, and no further action will be taken by the league.”
Sports247 gathered further that both players were rivals despite being teammates at The Heat from 2019, until last week when Herro was traded to Milwaukee Bucks as part of a deal that took another Nigerian-born player, Giannis Antetokounmpo to join Adebayo at Miami.
However, things took a sordid turn when Herro appeared to make some cynical comments on social media about Adebayo, while inferring that he is a better player than the Nigerian-born star.
However, rather than hold any malice with his former teammate for slapping him, Herro stated that he wanted to move on from the incident and is already focused on the next chapter of his career in Milwaukee, which apparently motivated the NBA in reaching its decision to close the case without any sanctions.
This marks a huge relief for the Nigerian-born USA international, as many witnesses had already put all blame on the two-time Olympic Games s gold medalist, who played college basketball for Kentucky Wildcats before joining The Heat as 14th overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft.
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