Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra offered no answer on Saturday when asked if injured guard Victor Oladipo would take the court again this season.
“Asked directly on Saturday night if Oladipo will play again this season, coach Erik Spoelstra declined to say,” Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald reported.
Oladipo left Thursday night’s game against the Los Angeles Lakers after injuring his right knee, with the Heat indicating that he’s out of the team’s lineup with “right knee soreness.”
Jackson indicated that Spoelstra was noncommittal about Oladipo’s status going forward.
“Spoelstra, following the team’s practice in Portland, said he had no update on Oladipo and that the Heat is still in the ‘information gathering stage right now,” Jackson wrote. “I don’t have a new update. He’s not with us on this trip and he won’t be with us [Sunday]. I don’t have any new information.’”
The major concern with Oladipo’s injury is that it’s impacting the same knee he injured in January 2019, when he was a member of the Indiana Pacers. That injury kept him off the court for just over a year.
The Heat acquired Oladipo last month from the Houston Rockets, with the Rockets now in rebuilding mode and Oladipo set to become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the 2020-21 season.
While the Heat are in a prime position to sign Oladipo to a contract extension, the condition of the soon-to-be 29-year-old’s knee could be a key factor in how much they offer the veteran.
For now, Spoelstra and the Heat have no other option other than to focus on trying to win without Oladipo, with Sunday night’s game against the Portland Trail Blazers the first of four straight road contests.
