Heat’s Markieff Morris and Victor Oladipo travel to New York. The latest on their status
The Markieff Morris and Victor Oladipo watch continues.
While Morris and Oladipo traveled with the Miami Heat to New York on Thursday as it prepares to resume its schedule following the week-long All-Star break, they have both been ruled out of Friday’s game against the Knicks at Madison Square Garden.
Morris and Oladipo are the only players on the Heat’s injury report. The rest of the roster is expected to be available against the Knicks, including previously injured guard Tyler Herro and wing Caleb Martin.
It’s encouraging that Morris and Oladipo both traveled for the one-game trip despite the Heat knowing they wouldn’t play Friday. The Heat held its first post-All-Star break practice late Thursday afternoon at the Brooklyn Nets’ training facility.
“They were able to do a lot,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said when asked about Morris and Oladipo’s participation in Thursday’s practice. “I’m not going to give you all the details. There’s nothing that’s imminent right now. This is all just part of the process. But it was good to have the entire group here at practice and getting after it, and getting a little bit of the rust off by competing and try to get ready for the stretch run.”
Oladipo and Morris were both working with Heat assistant coaches following Thursday’s practice, shooting on opposite ends of the court.
Oladipo has traveled with the Heat on a few trips in recent months, but Morris has remained in Miami other than the time he joined the team in Phoenix at the end of a long trip in January because he was already on the West Coast for a doctor’s appointment.
Morris, 32, hasn’t played since sustaining a neck injury on Nov. 8 when Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic shoved him to the court. The injury was termed “whiplash” by the Heat, but the team is now listing him as out because of a “return to competitive reconditioning.”
Morris has been hoping for weeks to make his return, but medical clearance has stood in the way. Liability issues have been among the concerns that have kept him out for nearly four months, with a previous neck injury complicating the situation.
Some of Morris’ court work during his absence has come away from the Heat, as he has worked with South Florida-based basketball trainer Stanley Remy. He has also worked with assistant coaches on the FTX Arena court prior to games since December.
Before hurting his neck in early November, Morris averaged 7.7 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 10 games in a bench role with the Heat this season.
Oladipo, 29, has yet to play this season as he continues to work his way back after undergoing surgery to repair the quadriceps tendon in his right knee last May. Along with traveling with the Heat on a few recent trips, he was sent last week to the organization’s G League affiliate, the Sioux Falls Skyforce, for his first 5-on-5 court work since the surgery.
Oladipo has been doing more behind the scenes over the last few weeks, including 2-on-2 halfcourt sessions with teammates after practices and before games with the Heat.
“Everybody was really encouraged by it,” Spoelstra said of Oladipo’s quick G League stint with the Skyforce last week. “Just the workload, that’s the most important thing. We’re not evaluating his skill set and how he played. It’s more about the five-on-five conditioning, competing, all the movements that happen with five on five. It was a really good day just like today was. You just got to keep on stacking good days, and then eventually the day will come and they’ll be cleared.”
Both Morris and Oladipo are on one-year minimum contracts and are set to become unrestricted free agents this upcoming season.
The Heat did not make a big move at the NBA trade deadline, but the hope is the potential returns of Morris and Oladipo will serve as in-season additions that upgrade the roster.
Morris would add frontcourt depth, especially at power forward but he can also play as a center at 6-9 and 245 pounds. The veteran shot 45.7 percent from the field and 36.4 percent on 2.2 three-point attempts per game this season before he was injured.
While there are questions regarding Oladipo’s injury history and what type of player he will be when he returns, adding him into the mix would lift 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 Indiana Pacers.
The Heat will also soon have one open spot on its 15-man roster that it can use to shop the buyout market or sign an already available free agent. Forward Haywood Highsmith’s 10-day deal with Miami expires following Friday’s game against the Knicks.
In accordance with team policy for injured players, Oladipo hasn’t spoken with reporters since media day on the eve of the first day of training camp in September, and Morris has not spoken with reporters since before he injured his neck on Nov. 8.
The Heat has 23 regular-season games remaining, including Friday’s road game against the Knicks that marks the start of a back-to-back set that ends Saturday against the San Antonio Spurs at FTX Arena. The playoffs begin in less than two months in mid-April.
“It’s great. Both those guys are awesome, man,” Heat forward Duncan Robinson said of having Morris and Oladipo with the team in New York. “Just feeling like a complete team is special. We’ve had so many guys in and out, and it’s been kind of a revolving door of faces. So to get everybody is really great.”
DRAGIC ON JOINING NETS
Why did former Heat guard Goran Dragic sign with the Nets as a free agent this week? He wants to win his first NBA championship.
“I chose Brooklyn because I think they have a really good chance to win a championship, especially to play alongside [Kevin Durant], Kyrie [Irving], Ben Simmons, [LaMarcus] Aldridge,” Dragic said Wednesday as part of his first media session since joining the Nets.
It also helps that Steve Nash is the Nets’ head coach. Dragic spent the first few seasons of his NBA career learning from Nash as teammates with the Phoenix Suns. Dragic, 35, noted that he was pursued by six other contenders, adding that Nash made his decision easier because he has “been a great friend to me, great mentor.”
The Heat faces the Nets two more times this season — in Brooklyn on March 3 and in Miami on March 26. There’s no timetable for Dragic’s Brooklyn debut, but it’s possible he’ll be able to play against Miami next week.
▪ Heat two-way contract guard Javonte Smart is expected to join the team in New York for Friday’s game.
▪ The Knicks listed RJ Barrett (sprained left ankle) and Nerlens Noel (sore left foot) as questionable for Friday’s game against the Heat. New York ruled out Derrick Rose (right ankle surgery), Luka Samanic (G League) and Kemba Walker (not with team).
This story was originally published February 24, 2022 at 5:24 PM.
