Another two max deals reached for Brandon Ingram, Bam Adebayo
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Bam Adebayo #13 of the Miami Heat and Brandon Ingram of the New Orleans Pelicans. /CFP

Bam Adebayo #13 of the Miami Heat and Brandon Ingram of the New Orleans Pelicans. /CFP

Another two maximum contracts were reached this off season: Brandon Ingram agreed to a five-year, $158-million contract offered by the New Orleans Pelicans, according to ESPN; Bam Adebayo also nodded to a five-year deal with the Miami Heat, announced his agent, Alex Saratsis.

Later, Shams Charania of The Athletic broke that Adebayo's new contract is worth $163 million and can go up to $195.6 million.

So far five got max contracts during this off season – De'Aaron Fox of the Sacramento Kings, Jayson Tatum of the Boston Celtics, Donovan Mitchell of the Utah Jazz, plus Ingram and Adebayo.

Brandon Ingram #14 of the New Orleans Pelicans drives towards the rim in the game against the Los Angeles Lakers at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, Louisiana, March 1, 2020. /CFP

Brandon Ingram #14 of the New Orleans Pelicans drives towards the rim in the game against the Los Angeles Lakers at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, Louisiana, March 1, 2020. /CFP

There were reports about Ingram considering signing a 1+1 short deal with the Pelicans of the team, offering him a one-year qualifying offer previously, but they were not more than dinner table gossips for good reasons.

First, the qualifying offer is only $9.5 million, way lower than the starting salary of a five-year max deal. Second, if Ingram suffers any severe injury or fails to keep last season's great performance, he may not be able to sign such a big contract.

The past 2019-20 season witnessed Ingram's explosion. Having averaged 23.8 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 4.2 assists while draining 2.4 triples at a 3-point rate of 39.1 percent, Ingram turned himself from a deeply talented young man into a true All-Star. His growth plus the arrival of Zion Williamson gave the Pelicans confidence to eye for playoff qualification.

Bam Adebayo #13 of the Miami Heat blocks a dunk by Jayson Tatum of the Boston Celtics in Game 1 of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals at The Field House in Orlando, Florida, September 15, 2020. /CFP

Bam Adebayo #13 of the Miami Heat blocks a dunk by Jayson Tatum of the Boston Celtics in Game 1 of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals at The Field House in Orlando, Florida, September 15, 2020. /CFP

Adebayo, like Ingram, saw his numbers take a spike to 15.9 points, 10.2 rebounds, 5.1 assists, 1.3 blocks, and 1.1 steals last season. When Miami selected him with the 14th pick in the NBA Draft in 2017, they expected another Dwight Howard. However, Adebayo turned out to be a standard model for big men in the small-ball era.

There were concerns that Adebayo's big contract may hold Miami back from recruiting Giannis Antetokounmpo in 2021 summer. There will surely be some impact. After Adebayo signs the deal, he will bite at least $28.1 million instead of $15.3 million (expected number under Bird Rights) of salary space on Miami's payroll. That means the team won't have enough space to sign Antetokounmpo directly.

Nonetheless, Miami can still try to introduce the Greek Freak via trade. In fact, that's what the contracts they gave Goran Dragic, Meyers Leonard, and Andre Iguodala for.