Rodney McGruder has to find his flow with the Miami Heat this season.
27 is an important age in the NBA. Conventionally held as the year a player enters his prime, the clock is ticking for a handful of members of the Miami Heat.
Though Kelly Olynyk recently hit that milestone last April and Dion Waiters will turn 27 this December, one player’s biological timer stands apart from them all: Rodney McGruder.
At first glance, McGruder could very well forge his age to be younger than he is. 2017-18 was just his second season in the majors.
Add that he played just 18 games last season, and he’s technically newer to the league than players a few years his junior.
Following the mold of Miami’s recent success stories, McGruder is the benefactor of time spent with the Sioux Falls SkyForce, Miami’s G-League affiliate. After winning a G-League championship in the 2015-16 season while averaging 15.8 points per game, McGruder became a full-time member of the Heat, signing a three-year, partially guaranteed deal in the summer of 2016.
Had it not been for an untimely left leg stress fracture in October 2017, McGruder’s career with the Heat would be on the rise. McGruder started 65 games with the Heat in 2016-17, only to have to re-integrate himself with the roster after his surgery.
"“You root for players all the time, and guys like Rodney, you have to root for them because of the kind of person he is, the kind of player, his effort, all-in, how coachable he is,” team president Pat Riley told the Sun Sentinel after McGruder’s injury."
The 2018-19 season is poised to be McGruder’s comeback season. He’ll have the benefit of playing a full slate of games with Miami, alongside a fully healthy roster.
With restricted free agency looming in 2019, how McGruder spends the season will shape both his incoming offers next summer, as well as Miami’s success in a redefined Eastern Conference.