The excitement over the Heat‘s blowout of the Bucks in Saturday’s Game 3 was lessened by a knee injury that Victor Oladipo suffered late in the fourth quarter, writes Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald.
The veteran guard was driving to the basket when he fell to the floor and grabbed his left knee. A stretcher was brought onto the court, but Oladipo opted to walk to the locker room with help from coach Erik Spoelstra and others.
“Vic, we don’t know right now,” Spoelstra said in his postgame press conference. “We’ll have him checked out tomorrow. I feel how everyone feels. Great win, but when you see a player go down like that – particularly a player like Vic, who has gone through so much. I don’t know what it is right now. I feel like throwing up right now, but I don’t know what the prognosis is.”
Oladipo was an All-Star before suffering a ruptured quadriceps tendon in his right knee midway through the 2018/19 season. He had a second operation on the tendon in May of 2021. Oladipo appeared in 42 games this season, which is the most since the original injury, but he hasn’t come close to reaching his former level of production.
As we noted earlier this week, Oladipo’s status could have a major impact on Miami’s financial picture heading into the offseason. He holds a $9.45MM option for next season that he would be certain to pick up if the injury is serious. If that happens, the Heat’s team salary for 2023/24 projects to be well above the luxury tax line.
Victor has no luck ……
That looked like a torn ACL to me. I hope I’m wrong, but that was a non contact knee injury. He knew he was toast when he was sitting there, too. And needing help off the court? Again, I hope I’m wrong but it adds up.
As someone that has done so on both knees countless times, plus on each knee back to back days this week, that is exactly what it looked like
Hard to see someone get hurt in general, but when you add all that he has dealt with the last few years, it’s that much tougher. For me, it’s also difficult knowing how he has had ti deal with these issues the last few years, right as I am once again dealing with my own never ending injury situation from a couple of days ago.
It looked a lot like last time he got hurt. Definitely on the plant. Somewhat similar to how I hurt my left knee getting into my seat on a plane home on Tuesday, without his foot actually having been caught on something. It was the same idea though. He stepped while getting into the gather, and when he was about to plant, he bumped slightly, causing his foot to stay in place, as his knee essentially wrenched…
People like us, who have gone through a lot, instantly know…and he looked like he instantly knew
For the team, this is incredibly frustrating for so many reasons, and obviously, cant really enjoy the win after that. Heat are cursed. You cant make this stuff up, at this point. Luckily for him he has the option next year to get paid, and hopefully he’ll be good for the playoffs next year…but it will be difficult for him to escape being labelled among fans and other teams moving forward.
One day at a time. You got this.
Unfortunately, I do…I’ve got this for so many years, my reaction was similar to VO’s when it happened to me, although for him I was devastated. Also, this is now my 2nd time tearing an ACL getting into my seat on a plane, on both knees now, and on both sides of the aisle. My other one literally just popped when I took a couple of steps in my own room to get water…its been a long week, which is why I was on the plane to begin with. Was already dealing with stuff before that too, from previous injuries, and I spent the last 3.5 years specifically trying to strengthen my knees, so this wouldnt happen, but here I am walking around with an injured spine, 2 previously injured/not entirely healed ankles, and now 2 more acl tears. Was finally getting my conditioning on track, but the process begins again
And Victor Oladipo can say the same; the process begins again
It’s always something little that causes these types of injuries, at least when it seems to happen often. Just before this, you see him cutting no problem, and I was doing a bunch of stuff the previous day, but then just like that…
Knowing how he has outlined his thought process the last couple of years, that moment with him on the floor is just rough to think about, b/c of all the stuff mentally
If anyone knows it’s you, that after some rehab and time spent on the mend that you can bounce back and be on the other side after a lot of work. You’ve done it before you can do it again even though it’s more difficult each time. I remember Kobe retiring after his big injury saying, he “just spent a year rehabbing his achilles, now this.”
You’re several years into this but I know you’re still young and you have the mental strength to work on the rehab. Look forward to hearing very soon that you’re on your way back and strong again. Thanks for posting your story.
I appreciate it, man…luckily I dont have to be a pro athlete or anything, and already do mostly lower impact stuff now to try to avoid injuries (lol), so hopefully this is just another one of these frustrating setbacks, and my work the last couple of years makes it a little easier coming back then the previous times. This also might give me reason to deal with other health stuff that would take time, since I cant do anything anyway
It’s just rough seeing someone like Victor Oladipo go through this. This dude is genuine, well rounded, and just overall a really good dude, and this was supposed to be what he spent the last few years for, and this happens like that. His reaction will stay with me for a long time
At this point its safe to say the Heat are probably the best team in the league. Dealing with all the injuries they have had all season and still be where they are, its extremely impressive
That is only safe to say if you’re Heat homer, or if you’re drunk.
Or both.
What is safe to say is that the Heat havent been even slightly healthy 1 time in 10+ years, and their only times being close, they made the finals, only for their entire team to get hurt while up 18 in game 1, and they still almost won if not for Lebron, KCP, and Markieff Morris, and then last year where multiple guys got hurt and secaucus, New Jersey cost them getting back to the finals…
Essentially, the Heat are cursed. This stuff never fails.
The only reason they’re up 2-1 is Giannis is hurt. But ok.
Or its b/c Milwaykee’s rotation decisions in this matchup have been questionable, and it was already a decent matchup for the Heat, without Milwaukee using their depth correctly…
Heat are missing their best scorer/spacer they had all season, on a team that was bottom 5 offensively in those areas.
No, it’s because Giannis it out.
What do you think now?