The third time’s the charm, right? The Miami Heat acquired Victor Oladipo in a trade with the Houston Rockets for Avery Bradley and Kelly Olynyk. The Heat are Oladipo’s third team this season, along with the Houston Rockets and Indiana Pacers.
In 20 games with the Houston Rockets this season, Oladipo averaged 21.2 points, 5.0 assists, and 4.8 rebounds per game.
Bradley, 30, averaged 8.5 ppg in 10 games with the Miami Heat this season. Olynyk, 29, averaged 10 ppg and 6.1 rebounds as the Heat’s starting center.
The Heat and Rockets will also swap 2022 first-round picks to complete the Oladipo trade.
The Miami Heat (22-22) occupy the #5 seed in the Eastern Conference. Heat general manager Pat Riley knew they needed extra firepower if the Heat are to compete in the playoffs against the Milwaukee Bucks, Brooklyn Nets, and Philadelphia 76ers. Oladipo provides the Heat with a scorer and playmaker, plus he’s a 35% career 3-point shooter, and a guy who wants to take the last shot in crunch time.
The Heat are +5000 odds to win the 2021 NBA Championship.
Oladipo, 28, becomes an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season and is expected to sign with the Heat in the offseason. Both the New York Knicks and Golden State Warriors were linked with Oldaipo in trade rumors.
Indiana > Houston > Miami
It’s been a wild ride for Oladipo in the NBA. He’s been traded four times since 2016 and is about to don a new team jersey for the third time this season, and for his fifth team since joining the league in 2013.
The Magic selected Oladipo out of Indiana with the second overall pick in the 2013 NBA Draft. The Magic traded him to the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2016. In 2017, he returned to Indiana, where he played his collegiate ball. Oladipo signed a four-year contract with the Indiana Pacers worth $84 million.
Oladipo began the season with the Indiana Pacers, who traded him to the Houston Rockets as a part of a four-team deal that shipped James Harden to the Brooklyn Nets.
In four seasons with the Pacers, Oladipo started 136 games and averaged 20.6 ppg. He appeared in only 36 games with the Pacers in 2018-19 before he suffered a ruptured quad injury. He played in only 19 games last season.
Miami Whiffs on Lowry, Hello Oladipo
Pat Riley wanted Bradley Beal, but Beal has stated numerous times he intends to retire as a member of the Washington Wizards. With Beal an unrealistic scenario, Riley attempted to acquire Kyle Lowry from the Toronto Raptors. If Riley and the Heat had Lowry last season, the Heat definitely would have beaten the Lakers in the NBA Finals.
Numerous teams wanted Lowry, including the Lakers after LeBron James went down. The Clippers also wanted to reunite Lowry with Kawhi Leonard. The two won a championship together with the Raptors in 2019. Toronto’s asking price for Lowry was too steep across the board, so the Raptors retained their veteran shooting guard.
Without Beal or Lowry available, Riley called the Houston Rockets. The Rockets fielded numerous calls about John Wall and Oladipo. The Rockets initially acquired Wall in a trade with the Washington Wizards in the offseason that included Russell Westbrook. Riley negotiated a sweet deal for Oladipo that meant the Heat didn’t have to cough up a first-round pick, and only really gave up Olynyk in the trade.
Wall remains in Houston as the team’s primary scorer. The Rockets recently snapped a 20-game losing streak, which tied them for ninth-worst in NBA history.
Oladipo, Draft Class of ’13
As we stated earlier, Oladipo went #2 in the 2013 NBA Draft. The Cleveland Cavs selected Anthony Bennett out of UNLV with the first pick in the draft that season. Bennett became the first Canadian-born player to ever become the #1 pick in the NBA Draft.
As a one-and-done player at UNLV, Bennett spent one season in Las Vegas before he went pro. Scouts compared him to Larry Johnson, one of UNLV’s most famous alums. It didn’t take long before the Cavs realized they made a crucial error with Bennett and should have drafted Oladipo instead.
Bennett had a disappointing rookie season with the Cavs and washed out of the NBA by 2017. He attempted a comeback, but toiled in the NBA’s G League playing for teams like the Long Island Nets, Maine Red Claws, Northern Arizona Suns, and Agua Caliente Clippers before hanging it up in 2019.
The 2013 NBA Draft also included a skinny kid from Greece by the name of Giannis Antetokounmpo. A total of 14 teams passed on the Greek Freak, and every single one regrets the decision.
The deep draft from 2013 also produced numerous veterans currently on active NBA rosters, including Rudy Gobert, CJ McCollum, Otto Porter, Nerlens Noel, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Michael Carter-Williams, Steve Adams, Kelly Olynyk, Dennis Schroder, Reggie Bullock, Trey Burke, Mason Plumlee, Solomon Hill, Tony Snell, Tim Hardaway, Jr., Mike Muscala, and James Ennis.
Check out more NBA trade rumors that never panned out.
