Miami Heat centre Bam Adebayo was named the 2025-26 NBA Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Social Justice Champion on Friday, beating out a finalist field that included Max Strus, Tobias Harris, Harrison Barnes, Larry Nance Jr. and Boston Celtics star Jaylen Brown.
The award honours an NBA player who has "pursued social justice and upheld the league's decades-long values of equality, respect and inclusion". Carmelo Anthony, who won the inaugural award in 2021, presented this year's trophy on NBA Showtime.
"This is an honour to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on what he stood for in his activism," Anthony said before opening the envelope. "This award is not about what you do on the court. It's about the responsibility that you take on just in your community, talking to people, mentoring people, giving back to people. This is what this award is about."
Adebayo, who also made the All-Defensive Second Team this season, joined the broadcast moments after his name was read. Asked by Anthony what receiving the Abdul-Jabbar Trophy meant to him, the Heat star kept the spotlight on the people the award is named for.
"It just means all the people that, you know, that I've helped got a voice," Adebayo said. "To have this honour, obviously, it's a big deal. I don't take it for granted. But this is an award for a lot of people that can't speak. I'm happy that, you know, we all got to share this award together."
Anthony, who has spent more than a decade running the Carmelo Anthony Foundation, then asked the 28-year-old Adebayo what kicked off his own community work in Miami. The answer pointed straight back to his roots.
"The camp. The camp was the next thing and then it just snowballed from there," Adebayo said. "And I've been helping Miami ever" — the audio briefly dropped before he was asked again about the people behind his foundation.
"It started with my mom," Adebayo said. "That's how the foundation started. It started behind her and you know, my manager Kevin Graves. And then my first who I want to shout out, my foundation manager, who is Dory Jackson. And then UD. The great help to me, and obviously he's from Miami. So being able to help his community and be a part of that."
The reference was to Heat lifer Udonis Haslem, who has worked alongside Adebayo on Miami community initiatives for years. Adebayo also turned the conversation to the work he hopes the award will galvanise across the league.
"We have a voice and you want to do that for people who don't," he said. "Being able to just give them that light. I feel like a lot of people that do great work in this world don't get credit, and it's our job to shed that light on them."
Before signing off, Anthony asked Adebayo for his pick on Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals, which was about to tip off in San Antonio. Adebayo went with the home side. "I feel like they're going to have a bounce-back win and they're at home," he said. "I'm going to pick one of my fellow teammates with De'Aaron Fox." The Spurs went on to lose the game 123-108. The award, though, was the part of the night the eight-year veteran cared about.
