Miami Heat star Bam Adebayo is out indefinitely after suffering a torn UCL in his right thumb during Monday's loss to the Denver Nuggets, the team announced Wednesday. Adebayo will undergo surgery this weekend and an official timetable will be revealed after that.

The current expectation is up to a six-week recovery, though there's always a chance it's longer:

*Watch NBA games LIVE with fuboTV (click for free trial)*

This is a brutal blow for a Heat team that has championship aspirations this season. Miami still has a talented roster led by Jimmy Butler and Kyle Lowry, but the team isn't all that deep in the frontcourt. Markieff Morris has been out because of a neck injury suffered when he was shoved by Nuggets star Nikola Jokic earlier in the season. Dewayne Dedmon is currently the backup center. Perhaps we'll see more P.J. Tucker at the 5.

Adebayo is averaging 18.7 points, 10.2 rebounds and 3.2 assists in 32.9 minutes per game this season. He's shooting 51.9% from the field. While his assist numbers are down thanks to the arrival of Lowry, his all-around play is as good as ever for the 13-8 Heat, which has them in third place in the Eastern Conference.

The 24-year-old has blossomed into one of the best big men in the NBA after going 14th overall in the 2017 NBA Draft. Adebayo made his first All-Star Game in 2019-20, and that surely won't be the last one.

While Adebayo won't be missing the rest of the season, sitting out around a quarter of the season is still tough. We'll see how Miami responds to this adversity.