By John Essien
The hopes of seeing Miami Heat Star, Edrice Femi Bam Adebayo play for Nigeria could come to fruition in the nearest future owing to his inability to done the US colours.
Adebayo who is born to a Nigerian father and an African-American mother, had in the previous summer, gotten a call up into Team USA’s provisional roster for the 2019 FIBA World Cup and looked all ready to travel with the rest of the boys to the tournament in China.
Unfortunately, the 22-year-old who at the time, averaged a total of 8.9 points, 7.3 rebounds and 2.2 assists with the Heat, could not make the final cut which puts Nigeria in a vantage point to woo the 6’8” center and power forward to play for them internationally.
Adebayo who has had a superb season for the finals-contending Heat, has not ruled out the possibility of representing the country of his heritage.
“My dad is Nigerian so if they asked me, I would consider it,” Adebayo told ESPN at the time, in what feels like an alternate universe compared to the state of the world currently.
The Nigerian Basketball Federation in the light of Adebayo’s recent claim of being proud of his name and heritage, seem to be throwing all there is in to persuade the New Jersey born player to switch allegiance to his fatherland.
The Federation’s president, Musa Kida says the organization would like to have Adebayo on D’Tigers roster for the Olympic Games next year.
“Having Bam in our national team is a possibility that we are considering as a federation ahead of the 2020 Olympics and beyond,” Kida stated in a statement released by the NBBF to ESPN.
“We are excited about how far he has gone and what he can achieve in his career with D’Tigers if he chooses to play for Nigeria.”
And he has indeed achieved a lot. After getting left off Team USA, Adebayo responded by taking his efforts to another level, to become one of the most productive players in the NBA pre-bubble.
Nicked “ Bam Bam” has started in all 47 pre-bubble games this season leading up to the All Star Weekend, averaging 16 points, 10.4 rebounds, 4.7 assists, 1.17 steals, 1.13 blocks and 34.5 minutes on 58.9 percent shooting from the field.
These numbers meant he was team leader in defensive rebounds, offensive rebounds and total rebounds. He also led the team in blocks, minutes, double-doubles, triple-doubles, double-figure scoring games and double-figure rebounding games, while leading Miami in rebounds a team-high 33 times and in assists on 14 occasions, the second-most on the team.
He also recorded three triple-doubles, becoming just the fourth player in franchise history to record at least three triple-doubles during a single-season while becoming the youngest (22 years, 145 days) to post a triple-double in team history
With this surging performance from Bam, it would be wise to think of him joining forces with the rest of the lads in the build up to making D’Tigers a force to be reckoned with globally.
