ORLANDO, Fla. -- LaMelo Ball said he is relieved to see that Bam Adebayo was not more seriously injured after the Hornets point guard tripped the Heat center and knocked Adebayo out with a lower back injury early in the second quarter of the Hornets' overtime play-in win over Miami on Tuesday.
The NBA investigated the play after the game and ruled it a flagrant foul 2 while also fining Ball $35,000 for the foul, plus another $25,000 for using profanity in a postgame on-court interview. Ball was not suspended for Friday's play-in game between the Orlando Magic and the Hornets to determine the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs.
Bam Adebayo crashed to the floor as LaMelo Ball swiped at his foot, and Adebayo did not return. On Friday, Ball said he's relieved Adebayo wasn't hurt worse. Nell Redmond/Associated Press "I'm kind of worried about this game today," Ball said after the Hornets' morning shootaround in Orlando. "But like I said, I try to apologize and everything. Just look out for Bam. Mainly just make sure he's OK. We don't want nobody hurt in this league ever. So as long as he's good, it's helped [ease] my mind a little."
Ball swiped at Adebayo's foot as the Heat center was trying to stay in bounds following a rebound, sending him crashing to the floor and remaining down through two ensuing scores. Adebayo exited with 10:58 left in the second quarter and did not return in Miami's season-ending loss.
Ball said following the game that he would seek out Adebayo and apologize to him. But Adebayo said Thursday that he had yet to talk to Ball.
"Whenever I see him, [I will] try to talk to him," Ball said Friday. "After the game, I tried to talk to him. I was waiting by his locker room and just talking to the security guard waiting for him. But he said he was in the shower, and it's a tough game. I mean, you lose, you don't really like talking to people. So I just gave him his space pretty much and he said he'd get with me. There was a lot going on."
After that tripping play, video surfaced from a previous Heat-Hornets game in January 2024 when Ball grabbed at Adebayo's leg while he was sitting on the floor and Adebayo was running past him up court.
Ball said he had no ill intentions and that there's no history of anything between him and the Heat center.
"It's all basketball," Ball said. "I feel like Bam knows. We never had nothing going on, you know what I'm saying? I never had really [anything with] anybody. Go out there and play basketball. Even [on] the one before, I [saw] him, try to foul him, stuff like that."