One of the biggest names available via trade at the NBA trade deadline this year was Victor Oladipo and during the last few minutes before the 3pm EST deadline on Thursday, the Heat and the Rockets engaged in trade talks for the former All-Star guard and a deal was finalized.
The Houston Rockets finally agreed to come down on their asking price and traded Oladipo to the Heat in exchange for Kelly Olynyk, Avery Bradley and a first-round pick swap that is presumably for 2022, including one of Brooklyn’s first-round picks Houston acquired when they traded James Harden to the Nets.
The Miami Heat have been looking to add Oladipo since the beginning of the season as both sides have had mutual interest in each other for months according to a league source. While he is in his first full season back since suffering a major quadricep tendon injury to his leg, Oladipo has not shown any major limitations and looks like he never missed a beat!
In 20 games with the Rockets this season, Oladipo averaged 21.2 points, 4.8 rebounds, 5.0 assists, 1.2 steals and shot 40.7% from the floor, 32.0% from three-point range. He has been a staple in NBA trade rumors since beginning the season with the Indiana Pacers and remained as such throughout the whole buildup to the NBA trade deadline.
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While they started the season off very slow and looking like one of the most disappointing teams of the year, the Miami Heat have completely turned things around and have worked their way back into the playoff picture in the Eastern Conference as the 5-seed right now.
With the addition of Oladipo, the Heat are expected to take a major leap and solidify themselves as one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference. While they were in talks to get Kyle Lowry from the Raptors, they would have had to give up Duncan Robinson and/or Tyler Herro, but instead, they kept both of these young, high-level players and add a former All-Star talent in Oladipo.
Since trading James Harden, the Rockets have been trending towards a rebuild and now, after acquiring draft picks and trading away Oladipo, Houston will begin their rebuild process with their focus being on this year’s draft. With that said, let’s take a look at how this trade affects both teams and if this trade was the right move for both teams.
