When the Miami Heat take on the Houston Rockets on Monday night to start a four-game homestand, they will remember the Victor Oladipo era. The former Miami player is now a member of the Houston Rockets, but there are a lot of “what if” questions surrounding the 31-year-old.
Ultimately, it was a business decision by the Heat to fire Oladipo, but he has made some long-lasting friendships with people in the organization. Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra is considering the player’s time with the team and, according to Ira Winderman of The Sun Sentinel, would like to see Oladipo return.
“He’s had so many setbacks, but he’s handled each one with such inspiring grace that you really root for him,” Spoelstra said. “We’re still in touch with him. You wish he was healthy and that he could have contributed to being on the field.”
He was a productive scorer with teams such as the Oklahoma City Thunder, Indiana Pacers and Rockets until the Heat signed him in March 2021. His stint with Miami was a disappointment, as while he showed flashes of his former self, he was plagued by injuries, which was an aspect of him before he stepped into a Heat jersey.
Spoelstra called the decision not to play Oladipo a “tough decision”.
Oladipo tore the patellar tendon in his left knee in Game 3 of the first round of last season’s playoffs, the start of a miracle playoff run for the Heat that led them to the NBA Finals. He was then traded back to the Thunder, but never played for them again until he was traded to the Rockets.
Spoelstra talks about the relationship Oladipo built with the Heat and says that the decision to sell him was a “difficult decision”. However, the head coach sees the former Miami player as “Heat family”.
“These are tough decisions that an organisation has to make, especially when you have great relationships with people,” Spoelstra said, via The Sun Sentinel. “That’s the way we look at Vic. He’s a Heat family. We want him back on the court one way or another.”
The team is even catching up with him via text messages and even a facetime session where the Heat connected with Oladipo. The best quality of the former Miami player, according to Spoelstra, was his “positive attitude”.
“He has a toughness and an incredible positive spirit that you can only understand if you’ve been around him,” Spoelstra said. “At the beginning of the season we were texting with him and we were all FaceTiming each other.”
Spoelstra said that if any player can come back from adversity, it’s Oladipo:
Oladipo spent three seasons with the Heat, but the number of games he played was very small, as he played 12 games in his first two seasons and appeared in 42 games last season. Spoelstra mentioned how he has re-trained to become a reliable option off the bench.
“He is finally back with us in a position where he has really contributed,” Spoelstra said. “In that game where he got injured, he really left his fingerprint.”
While some may be ready to end Oladipo’s career, Spoelstra isn’t, saying the Indiana University product is still “young” at 31. He stressed that if there is one player who can overcome obstacles and come back, it is Oladipo.
“He is still young. And he has that strength,” Spoelstra said. “There aren’t many people who can face such difficulties and still find a way to get through. Vic is one of them. That’s why he’ll be back and we’re rooting for him.”
Meanwhile, the Fever are preparing to return to the win column and will play the next 13 of their 18 games at the Kaseya Center. It starts tonight when they take on the Rockets, as Miami is 20-15, which puts them in eighth place in the Eastern Conference.