Bam Adebayo was Team USA’s standout player in their group-stage victory over South Sudan on Wednesday, and it appears ESPN’s Brian Windhorst’s provided some extra motivation.
Windhorst suggested Monday on “The Pat McAfee show” that Adebayo may be benched to combat Sudan’s strong wing play.
“South Sudan’s got a bunch of athletic wing players,” Windhorst said. “(Jayson) Tatum’s gonna be out there. They’re gonna be switching all of those screens because they gotta play the perimeter, and there may be a guy like Bam Adebayo that gets benched…”’
Adebayo clearly took exception and responded with a team-high 18 points on 8-of-10 shooting, along with two blocks in the 103-86 win.
Shortly after his impressive performance, Adebayo quote tweeted a clip of Windhorst’s remark with an infamous clip of rapper 50 Cent saying, “What he say f–k me for?”
Windhorst, however, was on the right path, he just picked the wrong player.
While Adebayo starred, fellow big man Joel Embiid was benched for the game.
Adebayo’s retort provided the second instance of a player expressing frustration with Windhorst’s reporting during these Olympics.
Prior to Team USA’s group-stage matchup with Serbia on July 28, Windhorst said Kevin Durant was likely to miss the contest.
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Kevin Durant’s business partner Rich Kleiman suggested Windhorst may want to avoid speculatory remarks, among other comments to The Post.
Kleiman also sounded off in a tweet which he later deleted.
“Start reporting only the facts,” Kleiman said. “Yes, he [Durant] could have played in London [against Germany] and is planning on playing versus Serbia. He busted his a– to come back for Team USA and he will be going for his record fourth gold medal and is already Team USA’s all-time leading scorer.”
Durant’s did indeed play against Serbia and, just like Adebayo, he shined, leading the team in scoring with 23 points on 8-of-9 shooting, including a perfect 5-or-5 from beyond the arc.
USA next plays Puerto Rico on Saturday in what will be their final group-stage match before moving on to a single-elimination tournament.