Tag: Victor Oladipo

Grading the OKC Thunder’s 2023 offseason additions

Handing out a grade for the Thunder’s newest faces.

The Oklahoma City Thunder had a busy first couple of days of free agency.

It started off on Friday night when they completed a trade with the Miami Heat to acquire the injured Victor Oladipo’s $9.5 million expiring salary and two future second-round picks.

On Saturday, the Thunder finally landed international superstar Vasilije Micic after years of teasing with a three-year deal. Later that day, the Thunder also added Jack White to a two-year deal after spending last season with the Denver Nuggets on a two-way contract.

On Sunday, the Thunder continued to fortify their draft resources by acquiring Patty Mills‘ expiring salary for additional draft compensation.

Barring something dramatic, this should relatively end the Thunder’s notable offseason moves. The Thunder will likely carry the allowed 20 players on standard deals into training camp and let them battle it out for the 15 spots.

With that said, let’s look at all of the new Thunder additions and give them a grade. For the draft edition of grading the selections of Cason Wallace and Keyontae Johnson, click here.

Report: Thunder acquire Victor Oladipo, draft picks in trade with Heat

The Thunder continue to add draft picks by taking on expiring deals.

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The Oklahoma City Thunder brought back a familiar face on the first day of free agency via a trade.

The Thunder agreed to send a $9.5 million trade exception to the Miami Heat in exchange for Victor Oladipo and draft picks, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

Oladipo is an expiring salary and is owed $9.5 million in the 2023-24 season. The 31-year-old suffered a torn patellar tendon on his left knee on April 23. The injury will likely cost him most — if not all — of next season.

It’s unknown if the Thunder will keep Oladipo on their roster as he will likely never suit up for them. If he stays, it will mark his second stint at OKC. Oladipo spent one season with the Thunder (2016-17) before he was traded to the Indiana Pacers for Paul George.

In 42 games last season, Oladipo averaged 10.7 points on 39.7% shooting, 3.5 assists and three rebounds. He also shot 33% from 3 on five attempts.

The Thunder entered the offseason with more than $30 million to spend in cap space and have essentially used that to buy more draft capital with this trade and the Cason Wallace draft night trade that attached Davis Bertans’ contract.

UPDATE: The Thunder reportedly acquired the Heat’s 2029 and 2030 second-round picks while sending a second-round pick back to the Heat.

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Doc Rivers: Victor Oladipo should have been called for flagrant on Tyrese Maxey

Philadelphia 76ers coach Doc Rivers believes Victor Oladipo should have been called for a flagrant foul on the play with Tyrese Maxey.

PHILADELPHIA — Philadelphia 76ers guard Tyrese Maxey had Miami Heat guard Victor Oladipo on an island late in the third quarter on Monday night.

With the clock winding down, Maxey was in a groove and he was looking to get Philadelphia a bit closer going into the fourth quarter. He put a move on Oladipo before he stepped back and missed a 3, but he landed on Oladipo’s foot and he was on the ground in some pain.

Maxey was grabbing at his ankle between the third and fourth quarters before limping over to the bench. To his credit, he stayed in the game and he made a triple in the fourth quarter before fouling out.

Coach Doc Rivers was upset after the 101-99 loss to the Heat and he said Oladipo should have been called for a flagrant foul.

“I thought Tyrese absolutely got fouled at the end of the quarter,” said Rivers. “I thought it was a flagrant because he landed on his ankle and that’s three free shots, but they’re not perfect just like we were not tonight.”

To Rivers’ point, the Sixers were far from perfect. They committed 20 turnovers, and they had plenty of defensive breakdowns that led to the Heat knocking down 15 3s. It was an effort that will not be good enough to win in the playoffs.

As far as Maxey’s ankle is concerned, Rivers and the Sixers are in wait-and-see mode as they head to Miami for a rematch with the Heat on Wednesday.

“He’s fine,” Rivers stated. “Those young guys. It looked like his ankle went over pretty good, too, but he told me afterward he felt fine. We’ll see tomorrow (Tuesday). That’s when usually we’ll find out.”

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Victor Oladipo talks highly of Chet Holmgren on JJ Redick’s podcast

“Someone who has surprised me is Chet. Just honestly seeing how really lengthy he is in person and obviously he can score the ball.”

While appearing on JJ Redick’s podcast, Miami Heat guard Victor Oladipo sang high praise for Oklahoma City Thunder rookie Chet Holmgren during his open runs from the offseason.

Oladipo was part of the open runs Holmgren participated in before he suffered a season-ending Lisfranc injury. Oladipo said he was impressed with Holmgren’s ability to stay on players such as Kevin Durant and Joel Embiid.

“Someone who has surprised me is Chet. Just honestly seeing how really lengthy he is in person and obviously he can score the ball but I think what’s gonna make him really crazy is his ability to affect the game other than doing that. You can pretty much go one through four if he uses his length right. The ability to protect the rim and then obviously how versatile he is. He can pass and dribble at that size is pretty impressive. Though he’s young, he’s light right now. So we’ll see how it works out for him, but he was really impressive to me. I remember one game he had to guard Joel (Embiid) and then the next game he had to guard (Kevin Durant) and he guarded them every possession. They had no problem. You know, Kevin made some shots, of course, Joel, too. But he did his thing and I think – us as players — we can respect that, especially from I’m a guy who hasn’t even played an NBA game yet. You know, not afraid to just, I’m going to guard two of the best players in the world, every possession now.”

Hearing this is bittersweet for the Thunder. It excites the fans on Holmgren’s long-term potential but also is a somber reminder they will not be able to see it for a year as he recovers from his foot injury.

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Victor Oladipo thinks Russell Westbrook will go on revenge tour

Victor Oladipo, a former teammate of Russell Westbrook, thinks the latter is about to stick it to the rest of the NBA this coming season.

When Russell Westbrook was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers last summer, he probably thought he was going to his hometown to compete for an NBA championship.

Instead, the Lakers didn’t even reach the play-in tournament, and Westbrook was made into the scapegoat.

He had a hard time fitting in with LeBron James and Anthony Davis, and now just about all Lakers fans want him off the team, one way or another.

But Victor Oladipo, Westbrook’s former teammate on the Oklahoma City Thunder, thinks the 2017 league MVP is about to launch a revenge tour on the rest of the league.

Via Lakers Daily:

“Now, one of Westbrook’s former teammates, Miami Heat guard Victor Oladipo, has made it clear that he believes the former MVP is on a revenge tour.

“‘Right now, we on the same wavelength,’ he said after talking about his own revenge tour. ‘When I say that, you said it best. You have to sit down and talk to him to understand where he’s at, but he’s there.'”

Westbrook clearly still has game, even though it appears his athleticism is starting to wane, but he will need to make adjustments for the Lakers to be successful if he’s still with them when the new season starts.

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Head coach Darvin Ham wants him to be active without the ball on offense, hit corner 3-pointers and display a newfound commitment to the defensive end.

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Heat explain how they have been able to contain Sixers star James Harden

The Miami Heat explain how they have been able to contain Philadelphia 76ers star James Harden in this series.

MIAMI — Through two games of this Eastern Conference semifinal series, the Miami Heat have done a petty good job of containing Philadelphia 76ers star James Harden. They have held him to 18 points and 39.3% shooting and 25% from deep.

The Heat have thrown a ton of defenders toward him such as P.J. Tucker, Victor Oladipo, and even Jimmy Butler has taken him on a bit. Of course, if the Sixers would have just made a few more open looks, then Miami wouldn’t be able to send as many defenders toward Harden, but that isn’t the case at the moment.

“We have done a great job keeping him off the line, first of all, and making every shot tough for him,” said Butler. “He is a superstar. He is going to make tough shots, but you can’t hang your head whenever he does. He has been putting the ball in the basket for a very, very long time now. Then they’ve got (Tyrese) Maxey who is doing it at an incredible level getting to the cup, making 3s, and getting to the free-throw line, so we have to be better on that and see if we can get two come Philadelphia.”

This is the second straight series that the Heat have had to defend a high-level scorer. They had to defend Trae Young in Round 1 and now they are taking on Harden in this series and they have held him in check as well.

“We’re just trying to make it tough on him,” said Oladipo. “He’s a great player, just like Trae. Like I said in the first series, the talent is only going to increase and get better, so we gotta bring our hard hat on the defensive end. That’s what we’re trying to do every night. Make it tough on him, make it tough on everyone, honestly, and just give him different looks. We know it’s only going to get tougher. We just got to keep honing in on that end of the floor and let that fuel us.”

Harden and the Sixers will have to figure out how to get into an offensive rhythm when they return home on Friday for Game 3. There is an outside chance that Joel Embiid can return which would give the Sixers a huge shot in the arm, but if he can’t, it will again be on Harden and the role players to start making plays on the offensive end of the floor.

This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!

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Free agency stock watch: Victor Oladipo, Kyrie Irving and more

HoopsHype breaks down three impending NBA free agents whose stock is up and down heading into their free agencies.

With the NBA playoffs in full swing and multiple teams already eliminated, it’s time for another edition of our free agency stock watch series, where we examine the impending free agents whose stock is going up and down.

With six players’ cases to examine, let’s jump right into the action, shall we?

Victor Oladipo’s Game 5 performance was a testament to his perseverance and patience

Victor Oladipo put on a show on Tuesday night and it’s hard not to root for him.

The Miami Heat just advanced to the Eastern Conference Semifinals, powered by the 23-point, three-steal Game 5 performance from…Victor Oladipo.

Remember him? The talented two-way guard who became a two-time NBA All-Star (2018, 2019) as a member of the Indiana Pacers. The 2017-18 season’s Most Improved Player Award winner. The player who famously pulled off the Black Panther dunk as the late Chadwick Boseman sat courtside at the 2018 Slam Dunk Contest.

Yes, that Victor Oladipo.

He looked very much like that late 2010s version of himself in Miami’s Tuesday-night win that sent Trae Young and the Atlanta Hawks home and propelled the banged-up Heat to the second round.

The vintage performance was just one of the great moments that Oladipo had on Tuesday. The other was his emotional postgame interview that followed the win.

Here’s the backstory for those unfamiliar: that aforementioned, late 2010s version of Oladipo was stopped in his tracks right smack in the middle of his basketball peak — a ruptured quadriceps tendon in his right knee back in 2019, being the reason. And the road to redemption has perhaps been more excruciating than the initial injury itself.

Oladipo returned to the court as a Pacer during the 2019-20 season but was shipped to Houston the following year after playing the first nine games with Indiana. After just 20 games with the Rockets, he was traded to Miami, where he played four games during the 2020-21 season before re-injuring that same knee.

Finally, in Miami’s 66th game of the 2021-22 season, a fully healed, fully healthy Victor Oladipo made his season debut. A month later, he dropped 40 points in the regular-season finale.

There have been no setbacks. No hiccups. No re-injuries. It’s just been a matter of Oladipo finding his spot amongst this talented and incredibly deep Miami Heat roster.

Whether his Game 5 performance cemented himself a spot in Miami’s playoff rotation going forward is to be determined. But he’s proven himself worthy, reliable and has the respect of his teammates.

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Austin Reaves’ triple-double, Obi Toppin’s 42 and other wild lines from the NBA’s regular-season finale

Everyone decided to score 40 points on the final day of the NBA’s regular season.

The end of the NBA’s regular season is always a joy.

You get your share of teams playing with something on the line (especially with the recent introduction of the play-in tournament), teams who are resting stars ahead of the playoffs, and others who are shamelessly tanking for draft positioning.

The latter two are obviously the most fun because it leads to things like Andre Ingram being called up from the NBA G League in 2018, Grayson Allen scoring 40 points in the 2017 finale, or Kobe’s 60-point farewell.

Nevertheless, the season’s final day traditionally leaves us with plenty to talk about. This past Sunday was no different.

Here’s everything that took place:

Here’s what Victor Oladipo’s return means for the Heat’s title chances

Oladipo can only make the rich even richer.

Over the past few years, the Heat have quietly become an NBA powerhouse. But two seasons removed from a surprising run to the Bubble NBA Finals, Miami now looks like a clear favorite to make a return trip to the league’s main stage. At 42-22 and a comfortable first place in a gauntlet Eastern Conference, the sky is the limit for a talented core led by Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo, Kyle Lowry, and Tyler Herro. They’re deep, coached by a fantastic leader in Erik Spoelstra, and battle-tested:

Essentially everything you want out of a team in spring. And they’re about to get a massive boost from the return of someone no one should have forgotten: Victor Oladipo.

The rich only get richer.

It’s been a long road back to playing shape for the 29-year-old Oladipo. The guard last played for the Heat last May before he tore a quad muscle. Given the nature of such an injury, no one should expect him to get off the bus running and gunning immediately. But if Miami can get even an occasional semblance of a former two-time All-Star, the best team in the East looks unstoppable on paper.

According to Tipico Sportsbook, the Heat have +500 odds to win the East, making them a comfortable favorite. They’re also, without Oladipo, +1200 to win the NBA title. If Oladipo brings anything of significance to the table, probably off the bench, expect those numbers to tilt even more toward their favor.

It was already tough to envision any topping Miami in the East playoffs. A healthy Oladipo makes that potential reality seem like an inevitability.

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