Reports: Victor Oladipo Signs 1-Year Veteran Minimum Deal with Miami Heat
Three days after the NBA free agency window opened, Victor Oladipo is staying put in South Florida. According to reports, he is staying with the Miami Heat on a one-year deal for the veteran minimum.
The agreement was first reported by Shams Charania of The Athletic.
Oladipo has played eight years in the NBA after spending three years in college at Indiana. He was the No. 2 overall pick in the 2013 NBA Draft by the Orlando Magic, and has also played in Oklahoma City and with the Indiana Pacers, where he was a two-time All-Star but suffered a serious quadriceps injury in 2019.
The veteran minumum salary is around $2.4 for someone with Oladipo's time in the league.
The Pacers offered Oladipo a long-term deal this past season, but he turned it down to cash in as an unrestricted free agent. With no deal in place, the Pacers traded him in a three-team deal with the Houston Rockets and Brooklyn Nets. They got Caris LeVert from Brooklyn in the trade.
Houston offered Oladipo a long-term deal as well, which he declined, and when he did, the Rockets traded him to the Miami Heat.
He played only two weeks for the Heat before getting injured again, with another serious qaudriceps injury. He's likely not going to be able to play this season until January at the earliest.
Oladipo has been rehabbing with Miami's medical team since the surgery, so staying put made sense with no other suitors involved since free agency started on Monday.
There's little risk for Miami and plenty of reward if he can come back healthy. The Heat played in the NBA Finals in 2020, have a solid lineup and has added a few key pieces in free agency this week as well, signing point guard Kyle Lowry, the biggest fish in this year's class, away from the Toronto Raptors. They also signed forward P.J. Tucker and re-signed sharp-shooter Duncan Robinson.
Oladipo has made more than $100 million in the NBA so far since being drafted. He signed a four-year, $21.5 million contract when he was drafted, and then inked a four-year, $84 million deal with the Pacers. With his college ties in Indiana, he was a fan favorite. But the contract dispute chilled some Pacers fans, and they turned on him after he didn't make a deal.
Oladipo will look to get healthy this season and then hit the free-agent market in the summer of 2022. The Heat will have an edge in keeping him, should he come back at 100 percent.
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