SAN FRANCISCO– Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr could not believe there was discourse surrounding Bam Adebayo's historic 83-point game against the Washington Wizards, the second most in NBA history.
“That's a thing? People aren't giving him credit for getting 83 [points],” Kerr asked the room when told how a good portion of fans, reporters, and analysts across the league have discredited the way Adebayo, the Miami Heat, and Erik Spoelstra got to that unbelievable accomplishment.
Amid the discourse surrounding Bam Adebayo’s 83-point game, Steve Kerr backed Erik Spoelstra’s comments:
“I respect what Spo said. No need to apologize, he was doing it for his own team and I respect that.”
Brought up how he left Klay Thompson in to chase 14 threes in 2018. pic.twitter.com/WjhZCnjzCU
— Kenzo Fukuda (@kenzofuku) March 14, 2026
Detractors have cited Adebayo's record-breaking 43 free throws, the way the Heat fouled the Wizards to get the ball back, and the fact that Spoelstra left his guy in a blowout game to chase the record as reasons why Adebayo's 83 points should come with an asterisk. But it seems as though Kerr falls on the other side of the discourse, as he had nothing but admiration for the player he coached during the 2020 and 2024 Olympics.
“It's pretty amazing. I mean, what an incredible accomplishment,” Kerr said. “And he's not even really a scorer. He's an incredible player. But he wouldn't be at the top of anybody's mind for somebody to score that many points. So just seems like a bizarre evening. I didn't see the game, we were playing so I saw some of the high highlights, but just kind of one of those out of body experiences, and look like the team was completely in and engaged and having fun with it.”
Steve Kerr backs Adebayo and Spoelstra's defense
In recent days, since the historic night, Adebayo and Spoelstra have been badgered with questions regarding the ethics of the strategies they employed to get Adebayo to 83 points.
Adebayo called the haters the “couch coaches” and defended his performance.
“If you get that close to chasing greatness, that's the point of chasing it, so you can surpass it,” Adebayo said. “And some of the people have never played basketball.”
Meanwhile, Spoelstra backed Adebayo vehemently, calling out the detractors in a long answer to the Miami media.
“I think most of the people that probably made comments, they didn't watch the game. That's ‘irresponsible' or ‘unethical,'” Spoelstra said. “And I would do it 10 times out of 10 again for Bam, I'm apologizing to nobody about this.”
Spoelstra won't need to apologize to Kerr because the Dubs' coached back his long-time friend and coaching contemporary.
“I think every coach has to face that– himself and his own circumstances,” Kerr said. “I imagine the whole team was begging Spo to keep [Adebayo] out there. And it's really tricky. As a coach, you feel you can feel awkward.”
Steve Kerr contextualizes his sentiments
Kerr recalled a similar experience to what Spoelstra and Adebayor did, when he left Klay Thompson in up big against the Chicago Bulls to chase the most 3-pointers-in-a-game record, back on October 29 of 2018.
With the Warriors up 41 with 4:53 left in the third quarter, Thompson hit his 14th triple to give himself the record. But before that point, Kerr had subbed out all the starters and left Thompson in there to chase the achievement. But that chase led to shot-chucking, a context lost to time, as Thompson missed four 3-pointers in a row in the process.
“I let him go, because I wanted him to get the record,” Kerr recounted. “The team wanted him to get the record. And it was a little awkward, for sure, like I felt bad he was launching shots. Fortunately, he made one. I think he missed his first three of the quarter, and he was just launching every time, and he made his fourth one. And I couldn't get him out fast enough. But it worked out. Everybody was happy, but yeah, it's awkward. There's a lot of mouths to feed, a lot of people to think about in those circumstances.”
With Kerr's experience with players and teams chasing records, he had no qualms with Spolestra's defense.
“But I respect what Spo said. No need to apologize. He was doing it for his own team, and I respect that.”
