Special to USAfrica magazine (Houston) and USAfricaonline.com, the first Africa-owned, US-based newspaper published on the Internet.
By Chido Nwangwu. Follow on X (Twitter) @Chido247
Basketball is, in some ways, to Americans what Soccer is to Nigerians, Italian soccer devotees, the samba superstars from the legendary Pele’s homeland of Brazil, Spain’s squad of terrific strikers, the adept French team with Mbappe, England’s soccer-mad devotees of the great game, the stars from Argentina, the homeland of the agile, artistic and controversial superstar Diego Maradona!
On Tuesday, March 10, 2026, at Kaseya Center in downtown Miami, Florida, Americans and other international audiences for the game of basketball watched as history was made. Miami Heat center, Femi Bam Adebayo, became the second-highest scorer for points per game in NBA history! The Miami Heat won 150-129 against the Washington Wizards.
He has also been elevated to the special position as the highest single-game scorer in the modern era! He is ahead of the late Kobe Bryant’s 81-point game.
Adebayo broke LeBron James’ career-high in points (61), which also was the previous franchise single-game scoring record, through three quarters.
The superstar reflected on his swift elevation to the pedestals of history, and said: “Like I said, man, came into this league as a defender and a lob threat and I really got emotional. It didn’t hit me until like, I hugged her and then I hugged my mom and then obviously my trainers, Ronnie Taylor, Kevin Graves, even Caron Butler and those are the emotional moments because they see me, you know, at my lowest behind the scenes…. They’ve seen me like at the lowest, at the bottom of the bottom, trying to figure out how to really pick myself up and to have this moment and share it with all of them. It’s a pretty emotional moment. I wish I could relive it id So this is a, a special moment. It’s Wilt [Chamberlain], me and Kobe [Bryant], which sounds crazy.”
If crazy means hard work, grit, determination and resilience to move the ladder of competitive excellence further.
The young man with the focus to make a significant value of his skills, on June 22, 2017, Adebayo was selected with the 14th overall pick in the 2017 NBA draft by the Miami Heat. He signed his rookie scale contract on July 1, 2017.
Adebayo was born on July 18, 1997, in Newark, New Jersey, to a Nigerian father, John Adebayo, and an African-American mother, Marilyn Blount.
I think that Bam has earned a place in basketball ranking regardless of the negative comments of some who seek to minimize his achievements! He has earned his place in the historical order of things!
Go, get ‘em, Femi Bam Adeboye!
• Chido Nwangwu, author of the forthcoming book, MLK, Mandela & Achebe: Power, Leadership and Identity., is the Founder of the first African-owned, U.S-based newspaper on the internet, USAfricaonline.com, and established USAfrica in 1992 in Houston. Follow him on X @Chido247
USAfrica: The Battle for the American Visa. By Chido Nwangwu
