When she’s not on the court, A’ja Wilson is a superstitious sports fan, just like the rest of us.
The four-time WNBA MVP arrived at the Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida on Tuesday, March 10 to watch her boyfriend, Bam Adebayo, score a modern-day record 83 points in the Heat’s 150-129 win over the Washington Wizards. She didn’t take her seat right away.
“I was hiding a little bit,” Wilson, 29, told the Associated Press. “I don’t know. I just got nervous.”
Wilson eventually took her seat courtside to see Adebayo, 28, make an incredible 36 free throws while hitting seven threes.
He passed Kobe Bryant’s 81-point effort in 2006, the previous modern-day record. Wilt Chamberlain famously holds the all-time record, scoring 100 points for the Philadelphia Warriors in 1962.
Adebayo’s historic game comes days after he reached another major career milestone, scoring his 10,000th point on Sunday, March 8 in a win over the Detroit Pistons. After Tuesday’s game, he reflected on reaching 10,000 on a night Wilson missed and scoring 83 with her sitting on the baseline.
“I’m thankful to have her in my life,” Adebayo said.
He continued, “She wanted me to wait [to hit 10,000]. To have 83, the first game she’s here, is very special. The behind-the scenes, the workouts, the conversations, they’re very motivating and you get inspired every day by that.”
For Wilson’s part, she seems to think that Adebayo scoring 83 on Tuesday makes up for him not waiting for her to reach 10,000.
“He’s forgiven,” she said.
Adebayo and Wilson’s relationship had been an open secret since they were first linked in 2023, but Wilson finally publicly acknowledged him as her boyfriend in an April 2025 cover story for Cosmo Sports.
“I have an amazing boyfriend who really is my safe space. He’s truly a gift,” she told the outlet. “He’s obviously in the same field, so we bounce off different things with one another to where it’s like, no, we’re not alone. He’s helped me through a lot and welcomed me to be who I’m going to be. I know he’s like, ‘I don’t know what A’ja I’m going to get today, but I’m blessed to be beside her.’”
She continued, “And it’s the same for me. When you can be your true self in front of someone, in front of your partner, that’s the purest form of love. At any point if I ever need a voice to hear or just a hug, he’s always there.”
