This is nothing new. Retired Heat legends Dwyane Wade and Udonis Haslem have made it known for the past few years that they view center Bam Adebayo as the next face of the franchise.

But Wade made that point loud and clear in recent days while in Miami to celebrate the unveiling of his bronze statue in front of Kaseya Center.

“To be able to be here with who is the future face of this organization, Bam, it means everything because he gets it, he understands it,” Wade said to a crowd during a community event Thursday, teaming up with Adebayo to show off a new and improved basketball court at Chapman Partnership in downtown Miami that was originally donated by Wade years ago and Adebayo recently revamped.

Then when speaking to a crowd outside Kaseya Center about his own Heat legacy just minutes after his statue was unveiled during a ceremony Sunday, Wade again made it known how highly he thinks of Adebayo by putting him on the same list as arguably the three most iconic Heat players in franchise history.

“These are words and actions that Zo [Alonzo Mourning], UD, myself and now Bam have held and will continue to hold,” Wade said toward the end of his speech on Sunday.

This isn’t a huge surprise, considering Adebayo took over as Heat captain when Haslem retired following the 2022-23 season. It’s also not a surprise because Adebayo is a Heat draft pick (unlike Adebayo’s co-star Jimmy Butler, who joined the Heat in free agency in 2019 as an established NBA star) who has developed into one of the league’s top two-way players — already with three NBA All-Star Game appearances and two Olympic gold medals at 27 years old.

But Wade’s words still carry weight, especially when he’s repeatedly mentioning Adebayo in the same breath as himself, Mourning and Haslem.

“One, it means I’m doing something right,” Adebayo said ahead of Wednesday night’s matchup against the New York Knicks to close a two-game homestand. “Two, they believe in me. They believe in me to carry the torch, they believe in me to take this franchise to the promised land.”

Adebayo, who is at the start of his eighth NBA season, is producing at a pace that would make him one of the greatest Heat players ever if he spends all or most of his career with the organization.

At Adebayo’s current pace, he and Wade could end up as No. 1 and No. 2 as the Heat’s all-time career leaders in categories like two-point field goals made, free throws made, assists, steals and points, among others. Adebayo also appears to be on his way to overtaking Haslem as the Heat’s all-time leading rebounder within the next five seasons.

“We always have — UD, myself, the organization — have spoken to Bam at this level for a long time,” Wade said this past weekend when asked about proclaiming Adebayo as the next face of the franchise. “It’s not pressure, it’s just opportunity. I mentioned Alonzo Mourning, I mentioned Udonis Haslem, I mentioned myself and then I mentioned Bam. To mention Bam with those likes, that’s respect because we see him as someone who’s going to continue to take on everything that we learned here and everything that we’ve passed on for this organization to be successful.”

Adebayo is under contract with the Heat through the 2028-29 season when he will be 31 years old after signing a three-year maximum contract extension worth about $166 million this past offseason.

“You don’t have those players, they don’t come around often,” Wade continued on Adebayo. “You have a lot of talented players come around, you have people that do great things. You don’t have cornerstone individuals who can take your culture and keep it going. So I just spoke on that and I’ve spoken to him.”

The next step for Adebayo is to win his first NBA championship. The Heat’s leading duo of Adebayo and Butler has led the Heat to three three Eastern Conference finals appearances and two NBA Finals appearances in their first five seasons together, but they have not been able to win an NBA title yet.

“I want to be a part of winning,” Wade said. “I ain’t going to lie to you guys, I was jealous watching the Boston Celtics the other night because I saw KG [Kevin Garnett] and Paul Pierce and Ray Allen out there. ... I was like, ‘I want to be that guy.’ I want to be the old guy to come back when the team wins a championship. So it’s important for me to set that example and be that example, but not to be the only one. So we’re thankful for Zo because he set it, UD and I followed. And Bam has to be thankful for us because we set it and now he’s following it. So hopefully it keeps going.”

MEDAL RECOGNITION NIGHT

The Heat announced that it will hold Medal Recognition Night during Monday’s matchup against the Sacramento Kings at Kaseya Center, honoring Adebayo, Nikola Jovic and Erik Spoelstra for their work at the Paris Olympics this past summer.

Adebayo won his second Olympic gold medal with Team USA. Spoelstra was an assistant coach for Team USA.

Jovic won his first Olympic medal, a bronze medal as part of the Serbian national team.

Adebayo’s second Olympic gold medal banner is expected to be unveiled in the Kaseya Center rafters on Monday, commemorating the accomplishment. He’ll be the first Heat player with two such banners alongside four others celebrating players who have won one gold while with the Heat — Mourning (2000), Tim Hardaway (2000), Wade (2008) and LeBron James (2012).

Jovic won’t get a banner since he did not win gold in Paris.

INJURY REPORT

Josh Richardson was a late addition to the Heat’s injury report, as he was listed as questionable before eventually being ruled out for Wednesday’s game against the Knicks because of a left calf strain.

Richardson was available and in uniform for the first time this season in Monday’s home win over the Detroit Pistons, but he did not play in the game.

Richardson missed the entire preseason as he worked his way back from March surgery on his right shoulder and then was held out of the first two games of the regular season with left heel enthesopathy.

The Heat also remains without Kevin Love, who will miss his fourth straight game because of personal reasons. Josh Christopher is also unavailable for the Heat against the Knicks because he’s currently in the G League as part of his two-way contract.