Victor Oladipo traveling with Heat for first time. Spoelstra explains why it’s a ‘big step’
There’s still no definitive timetable for guard Victor Oladipo’s return, but he is taking a big step forward as a member of the Miami Heat this week.
Oladipo traveled with the Heat to Cleveland for Monday night’s game against the Cavaliers to kick off a four-game trip.
While Oladipo is still not ready to play because he continues to rehabilitate from May surgery to repair the quadriceps tendon in his right knee, this does mark the first time he has traveled with the Heat since he landed with the organization in a trade last March.
“It’s a big step,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said ahead of Monday’s contest. “It’s not about a step of when he’ll be back. It’s more about just the emotional and mental boost for him. He has been doing all this work behind the scenes, at the arena while we’ve been on the road. And we’ve been on the road virtually the entire season. So he hasn’t been with us for a large part of it.”
When media was allowed in at the end of Monday morning’s shootaround at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, Oladipo was working away from the team with a group of Heat coaches and trainers. He was one of the final players on the court putting up three-pointers.
Oladipo, who signed a one-year minimum deal worth about $2.4 million to return to the Heat as a free agent this past offseason, had remained in Miami for the first two months of the season to conduct his rehab work until joining the team on its current trip.
But Oladipo has been on the Heat’s bench to support his teammates during home games this season.
“He was so excited to come on this trip and continue his routine,” Spoelstra said. “But at least it gets him around the guys. You see how he is on the bench during home games, he loves it. I think it’s helping his morale and motivation, and that’s all it’s about. It’s not about a timetable or anything.”
The fact that Oladipo is with the team on its current trip doesn’t necessarily mean his return is imminent, as the Heat explained it as an opportunity to take in the “road experience” and spend more time around his coaches and teammates.
Before the start of the season, the hope was that he would be able to play in games by March.
When asked for a timetable for his return on Media Day in late September, Oladipo didn’t have one. He simply said “hopefully sooner than later” and that he was only doing “super light stuff” at that time.
Oladipo was not made available to speak to reporters on Monday.
Oladipo, 29, played in just four games with the Heat last season before feeling discomfort in his right knee and eventually undergoing surgery. All four of those games were played in Miami.
With Oladipo splitting last season between the Indiana Pacers, Houston Rockets and Heat, he averaged 19.8 points while shooting 40.8 percent from the field and 32.6 percent on threes, 4.8 rebounds, 4.6 assists and 1.4 steals in 33 games (33 starts).
While there are questions regarding Oladipo’s injury history and what type of player he will be when he returns, his potential return lifts the Heat’s ceiling because he has proven to be one of the NBA’s top two-way players when healthy. He was voted to the All-Star Game, NBA All-Defensive First Team and All-NBA Third Team and earned the NBA’s Most Improved Player award in 2017-18 as a member of the Pacers.
“It’s good to see Vic on the road, man,” said Heat forward P.J. Tucker, who also spent part of last season as Oladipo’s teammate with the Rockets. “I haven’t seen Vic on the road since we were in Houston. So it’s good to see him out here, for sure.”
HEAT’S COVID-19 SITUATION
In the wake of wing Caleb Martin entering the NBA’s health and safety protocols on Saturday, no other Heat players had tested positive for COVID-19 as of Monday morning.
The Heat underwent a round of COVID-19 testing before and after Saturday night’s win over the Chicago Bulls at FTX Arena, but have not needed to undergo additional testing in Cleveland since the rest of the roster has since tested negative for the virus.
But Heat radio broadcaster Jason Jackson is not with the team for its four-game trip because he has entered the league’s health and safety protocols. A broadcast spokesman said Jonathan Zaslow will handle radio play-by-play from the team’s studios in Miami while Jackson is away.
The current NBA policy requires players — whether they’re fully vaccinated or not — to either quarantine for 10 days or return consecutive negative PCR tests at least 24 hours apart while not having any symptoms in order to return after testing positive for COVID-19.
While vaccinated players are not required to test regularly this season, Martin’s positive test came about because he wasn’t feeling well.
“At this point now, I think everybody has to recommit to the vigilance and everybody has to do their part,” Spoelstra said. “Wearing masks, being responsible when we’re away from each other and just have to try to do the best that we possibly can versus something that is still there. It’s not something that we can 100 percent control and that’s probably what’s frustrating for all of us. Then just hope that we can through this season and not have people get sick. Hopefully we can get past this rough patch right now.”
Since playing the Heat on Saturday, the Bulls’ COVID-19 outbreak has grown. Zach LaVine and Troy Brown Jr. entered the NBA’s health and safety protocols on Sunday and Alize Johnson entered protocols on Monday, according to ESPN.
LaVine played 38 minutes, Brown played 34 minutes and Johnson played five minutes against the Heat on Saturday.
On Monday, the NBA postponed the Bulls’ next two games – Tuesday against the Detroit Pistons and Thursday against the Toronto Raptors — because of Chicago’s COVID-19 issues. It’s the league’s first two postponements of the season.
INJURY REPORT
The Heat remains without Bam Adebayo (thumb surgery), Jimmy Butler (tail bone contusion), Martin (protocols), Markieff Morris (whiplash) and Oladipo on Monday against the Cavaliers.
The Cavaliers have ruled out Collin Sexton (left knee meniscal tear) and R.J. Nembhard (G League assignment).
This story was originally published December 13, 2021 at 1:10 PM.
