Yahoo Finance Heat star Bam Adebayo surprised mom with new home for 56th birthday
Bam Adebayo is putting his new contract to good use.
The Miami Heat star shocked his mom, Marilyn Blount, with her own home on Sunday for her 56th birthday.
“I was so nervous, because I never really give her a gift like that,” he said, via ESPN. “So it kind of gave me like a feel like when I first stepped on the Finals court. I didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t know anything at the moment. It was like one of those ‘aw’ moments where you just sit there for a minute. And she enjoyed it.”
Bam Adebayo grew up in a trailer
Adebayo is fresh off his breakout season in the NBA, where he helped lead the Heat to the NBA Finals. The 23-year-old averaged 15.9 points and 10.2 rebounds last year while earning his first All-Star nod, which earned him a massive five-year contract extension that could end up being worth $200 million.
Though he’s made it in the league now, Adebayo’s past looked very different.
He and his mom lived for years in a single-wide trailer in North Carolina while struggling to make ends meet. Adebayo has shared photos of that trailer, and even carries a photo of it around with him constantly.
That photo, he said, now has a permanent place right by the front door of his mom’s new home.
"I wanted it by the front of the door because I wanted everybody to see where we actually came from," Adebayo said, via ESPN. "And that doesn't matter who walks in. You're going to always see that picture. My whole goal [of] putting it there was just so everybody can see where we actually come from. And I was raised at what I went through, the struggle, to get my mom a brand new crib and the conditions she lived in.”
After everything the two have been through together, Adebayo knew how important the gift was for Blount.
"The moment she had on her face was priceless," Adebayo said, via ESPN. "Just seeing that woman go through all she went through and finally getting a break and being able to say, 'This is mine,' and 'I own this,' that was a big thing for me. My mom's never owned anything, so I always wanted her to own something that she could say, 'This is mine' and feel good about it. ... I wanted her to have 10 toes down [feeling] this is my house."
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