By Angelica Medina
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Bam Adebayo won an Olympic gold medal in Paris this summer but would rather play in Mexico, the Miami Heat center said on Friday, ahead of his team’s game against the Washington Wizards in Mexico City.
The 27-year-old will be playing in his third NBA game in the Mexican capital on Saturday, as the league looks to expand its global footprint.
“I feel like we’re not an away team in here. (At the Olympics) we were playing against France in Paris. We knew we weren’t the home team. I feel like everybody here enjoys ‘The Heat.’ We have great energy and fans,” Adebayo told reporters.
Adebayo, who won his first Olympic gold medal with the United States at the Tokyo Games in 2021, said winning the title in Paris was a different challenge and spoke of the many people who said the “Dream Team” could not do it.
“We had a lot of outside noise that we blocked out, even from people that were from U.S. saying they don’t want us to win, (but) we got it done, and that was just credit to all the guys behind that one goal, winning the gold.”
Heat teammate and six-time NBA All-Star Jimmy Butler echoed Adebayo’s feelings about playing in Mexico.
“Its fire here. Food is great. People is incredible. I get to work on my Espanol,” Butler said. “Any opportunity to play basketball in a different country in front of a bunch of different types of fans, it’s a blessing. I love that they love basketball here.”
The NBA is expanding basketball in the Latin American country, with the league’s 33rd visit and the prospect of a franchise for the future, alongside Capitanes, the Mexico City team with an axolotl mascot that joined the NBA G League in 2021.
(Reporting by Angelica Medina in Mexico City; Additional reporting Amy Tennery in New York; Editing by William Mallard)
