Bam Adebayo even managed to impress His Airness with his 83-point fever dream this week.
The Miami Heat big man Adebayo appeared Wednesday on ESPN’s “NBA Countdown” following his game-of-a-lifetime on Tuesday night against the Washington Wizards. Adebayo revealed during the interview that he received a text message from Michael Jordan congratulating him on his 83-point explosion.
“[He] just [said], ‘Congratulations,’” said Adebayo of Jordan. “Just short and sweet. If you know Mike, he’s not talking a lot.”
Adebayo, a three-time NBA All-Star at 28 years old, surpassed Kobe Bryant’s 81-point game in 2006 as the single highest scoring performance of the modern basketball era. In the all-time history of the NBA, now only Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point game back in 1962 tops the 83 points that Adebayo erupted for this week.
As for Jordan, now 63 years old, his single-game career-high was “only” 69 points (set in 1990 with the Chicago Bulls during an overtime victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers). Jordan does however still hold the NBA’s single-game playoff scoring record of 63 points, set with the Bulls in 1986 during a double-OT loss to the Boston Celtics.