Miami Heat Best Of 2020-21: Victor Oladipo Stint Was Brief, Yet Promising

The Miami Heat got better with Oladipo, eventually, but he went down shortly after. Hopefully, both sides can reach fair understanding to move forward.

As each game went forward, both Oladipo’s confidence and shooting rhythm began to heighten. In the Heat’s, 124-112, loss against the Memphis Grizzlies on April 6th, Oladipo did tremendous work defending Ja Morant, holding the Grizzlies’ second-year standout to just 10 points on 3-of-8 shooting and forcing him into seven giveaways.

Oladipo finished with 16 points on 6-of-14 shooting in the loss. It’s also worth nothing that per 100 Possesions, the Heat were a plus-minus of +14.7 with a lineup of Oladipo, Butler-Robinson-Ariza-Adebayo on the floor.

Just before re-injuring his right quadriceps, Oladipo had undoubtedly his strongest performance for the Miami Heat against the Los Angeles Lakers. He finished with 18 points in 25 minutes.

In a night of several Heat highlights against the defending champions, Oladipo made two of his three attempts from outside, played tremendous defense in the post, and beat Lakers’ center Andre Drummond to the rim for ridiculous right-handed dunk.

It was clear that Oladipo checked off several boxes for what Miami needed on the perimeter and a potential fit between them was far from an April Fools joke. With Victor’s injury not helping Miami’s chances in the postseason, sitting him for the remainder of the year was the correct move for, perhaps, his career.

While the initial trade for Oladipo will likely be remembered as unsuccessful, Miami shouldn’t regret a move that statistically had put them further into a more balanced and complete defensive team. As the Heat currently hold Oladipo’s Bird Rights, they’ll be able to go above the salary cap to re-sign him this summer if need be and possibly, to a one-year Prove It type deal where he can prove that he belongs in the conversation as a core player on a winning organization again.

Whether Miami chooses to move forward with him or not, it must be decided very soon. Hopefully, both sides are able to work something out, because he may still have more moments like these left in him.