Late on Tuesday, Charlotte Hornets guard LaMelo Ball said he planned to reach out to Bam Adebayo to apologize after his trip during that evening’s Eastern Conference play-in game ended the Miami Heat centre’s night.
That conversation still hasn’t come.
Bam says LaMelo Ball has not apologized to him yet:
— Heat Central (@HeatCulture13) April 16, 2026
“It didn’t happen… I want It to be out there. At some point I’ll see him again and we’ll have that conversation” https://t.co/V7be6aZDTV pic.twitter.com/HpPqEtpQ9o
Speaking at the team’s end-of-season availability, the three-time All-Star said he’s yet to hear from Ball after the game in which the Hornets moved on to meet the Orlando Magic with a 127-126 overtime win.
“It didn’t happen,” Adebayo said of the promised conversation. “By that time I was in the shower trying to figure out what I was going to do next. Obviously, everything happened all at once. I want it to be out there. At some point I’ll see him again and we’ll have that conversation and we’ll move on.”
Early in the second quarter of the game, Ball swiped at Adebayo’s leg causing him to fall on his tailbone and not return. On Wednesday, the league fined ball $35,000 for the play and assessed him an additional $25,000 fine for using profanity in a postgame interview.
Adebayo, who just completed his ninth NBA season, wondered why a play like that isn’t reviewable according to league regulations.
“I think the officials handled it, I guess, by the rulebook,” Adebayo said. “I think [there will] be a change at some point because it doesn’t make sense that three or four plays can go by and you can review a three-point shot, but you can’t review a hostile act.”
As for Ball’s intentions, Adebayo wouldn’t be draw in on whether or not the play was dirty, noting that only the Hornets guard knows for sure.
“I think LaMelo is just going to see it as another game,” the 28-year-old Newark, NJ native said. “He makes, what, $30 [million] a year? That [$]60[,000 fine], he’s not even gonna see. But it’s one of those things where everybody is going to have their own opinion. Nobody is really going to know the truth but LaMelo, if it was dirty or not, obviously. Everybody is going to try to defend him, or defend me. So it’s really only him [who knows].”
With the loss, the Heat miss the playoffs for the first time in seven years.
