NBA icon Kobe Bryant must be nodding proudly in heaven right now after Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo scored 83 points against the Washington Wizards on Tuesday.
Adebayo surpassed the 81 points of Bryant for the second-highest scoring output in league history, trailing only the 100 points of NBA legend Wilt Chamberlain. The Heat walloped the Wizards, 150-129.
In the postgame conference, Adebayo looked in disbelief at what he just did, especially since he beat the record of his childhood hero. He said he is curious about what Bryant would have told him about his 83-point feat if he were alive today.
“To me, it's wondering what he would say. Seeing somebody (score) 60, 70, but to be 83 and passing him, my mind's like, ‘What would he say to me?' Because I’ve always wanted to have a conversation with him. But he’ll probably say to me, ‘Do it again,'” shared Adebayo, who had his girlfriend, Las Vegas Aces center A'ja Wilson, sitting beside him.
“Just a surreal moment to be in the company of somebody I idolized growing up.”
“It’s wondering what (Bryant) he would say…I’ve always wanted to have a conversation with him, but he’ll probably say to me ‘Do it again.’”
Bam Adebayo on what he thinks Kobe Bryant would've said to him 🗣
(via @ZachWeinberger) pic.twitter.com/pCZzNpueaF
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) March 11, 2026
Wilson agreed with Adebayo's remark that Bryant would have urged him to go for the record again. Many thought that Bryant's 81 points would never be broken, but Adebayo did it. So why not Chamberlain's 100 points?
Bryant was a maniacal competitor, and to him, there was no record that he could not achieve. Other athletes shared his psyche, and he was very proud of it.
While Adebayo will never know what Bryant's reaction would be to his 81-point performance, he can take solace in the fact that he lived up to his childhood idol's mentality.


















