Miami Heat reserve shooting guard Victor Oladipo has torn the patellar tendon in his left knee and is done for the rest of the postseason, sources inform Shams Charania of The Athletic.
He initially hurt the knee late in the fourth quarter of Miami’s blowout 121-99 Game win over the East’s top-seeded Bucks Saturday. On a drive, Oladipo collapsed to the ground and clutched his knee. Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra and other personnel helped him walk back to the team locker room.
This marks the second injury to a rotation wing for Miami in its ongoing series against Milwaukee, which the Heat are improbably leading 2-1. In Game 1, starting shooting guard Tyler Herro departed the game with what turned out to be two broken fingers in his right hand.
He underwent surgery to repair the damaged digits and will miss at least the next six weeks of action. To be fair, Oladipo only re-joined the team’s playoff rotation in the first place due to the absence of Herro.
Oladipo inked a two-year, $18.2M deal with Miami last summer, which includes a $9.45M player option for 2023-24. As we mentioned last week, picking up that option could hamper the Heat’s offseason, as it would put the team’s cumulative salaries well north of the luxury tax line.
Given the 30-year-old’s lengthy injury history and middling production this year, he seems unlikely to earn anything close to his player option on the open market.
Across his 42 healthy games during the 2022-23 regular season, the former two-time All-Star averaged 10.7 PPG on .397/.330/.747 shooting splits, along with 3.5 APG and 3.0 RPG.
Reserve wing Haywood Highsmith may now be in line for additional minutes, thanks to the extended absences of Herro and now Oladipo.
