BOCA RATON — The mutual admiration has been a staple both on and off the court when it comes to Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo and Las Vegas Aces center A’ja Wilson.
For now, as Adebayo works through training camp at Florida Atlantic University, the basketball spotlight has shifted to Wilson, who is back for the fourth time in six years in the WNBA Finals, which open Friday against the Phoenix Mercury.
And for now, nothing but pride from Adebayo as Wilson seeks her fourth championship, with the Heat center still in search of a first.
“I feel like that’s a very insecure man if you’re competing with your significant other,” Adebayo said with a smile, still drenched in sweat after a Heat workout. “Now, compete and try to make each other better is one thing, but competing where you’re looking at stats and all that, that’s not how I operate, that’s not how we move the needle to make each other better.”
Largely private about the relationship, Adebayo was very public on Sept. 19, when he was among those who surprised Wilson with her 2025 WNBA Most Valuable Player award in Las Vegas, the fourth time she has been so honored.
Surrounded by love. Surrounded by history.
A’ja Wilson’s 4th WNBA Kia MVP hit different — and the celebration says it all.#KiaMVP | #WelcometotheW pic.twitter.com/W5JFk1mYt3
— WNBA (@WNBA) September 21, 2025
It was a moment Adebayo reflected upon as he moved into this week’s work mode with the Heat.
“Special moment for a special person,” he said. “To see somebody be the Mount Everest, the Mount Rushmore in their sport is something you can’t take for granted. To be able to give somebody flowers when they’re still here to smell them, that was a special moment for me and obviously everybody involved.”
Adebayo has been far more open about the basketball part of the relationship, with each considered among their league’s elite power presences. He wore Wilson’s signature sneaker in a February game last season against the Brooklyn Nets, months before the shoes formally were released.
“Just to have somebody that you can actually talk to from a different perspective, different lens, obviously different coaching,” Adebayo said of the pros of being close to another pro. “For me, being able to watch somebody that great and ask questions after the game. I feel like that’s the biggest way she’s helped me, just allowing me to ask questions and giving me honest answers.”
During the Aces’ dramatic semifinal series win that went the maximum five games, Wilson spoke with ESPN about the mutual basketball admiration society with Adebayo.
A’ja Wilson and Bam Adebayo are courtside and lookin’ fine to catch all of tonight’s action #WNBAAllStar pic.twitter.com/FgIWS8ZzHI
— WNBA (@WNBA) July 19, 2025
“I’m better this year because I had a front-row seat to one of the best in the game,” Wilson reflected of Adebayo’s game. “His footwork is such an underrated part of his skill set.”
That series ended with Tuesday night’s overtime victory over the Indiana Fever. Wilson scored 35 points in the game.
“Like I said, she’s Everest,” Adebayo said of Wilson’s Tuesday performance. “She wills a way to win. She helps her team win. She keeps encouraging them to go above and beyond their standards, and obviously pushed them all the way from being .500 at All-Star break to now the Finals.”
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While not naming Adebayo, Wilson in an April interview with Cosmopolitan, said: “I have an amazing boyfriend who really is my safe space. He’s truly a gift. He’s obviously in the same field, so we bounce off different things with one another to where it’s like, no, we’re not alone. He’s helped me through a lot and welcomed me to be who I’m going to be.
“I know he’s like, ‘I don’t know what A’ja I’m going to get today, but I’m blessed to be beside her’ And it’s the same for me. When you can be your true self in front of someone, in front of your partner, that’s the purest form of love. At any point if I ever need a voice to hear or just a hug, he’s always there.”
The Heat are off for the first two games of the WNBA Finals, when the Aces host the Mercury, although Friday’s series opener is when the Heat conclude training camp and then fly to Puerto Rico for Saturday’s preseason opener against the Orlando Magic. Game 3 of the WNBA Finals conflicts with a Heat home exhibition against the San Antonio Spurs.
Adebayo said that might require a side conversation with Heat President Pat Riley and coach Erik Spoelstra.
“I’ll talk to Spo, I’ll talk to Pat,” he said. “If it happens, it happens.”
