Miami Heat guard Victor Oladipo has opted to have season-ending surgery on his right quadriceps tendon, the team announced Wednesday.
Oladipo will have the surgery Thursday in New York, and the team said there currently is no timetable for his recovery and return to play. Oladipo has been out since injuring his right knee in Miami’s win over the Los Angeles Lakers on April 8.
In 2019, Oladipo ruptured the right quadriceps tendon playing for the Indiana Pacers. It was a rare injury and required intensive recovery, with Oladipo missing a full calendar year before returning in January 2020. Since coming back, he has appeared in only 52 regular-season games (28 with the Pacers, 20 with the Houston Rockets, four with the Heat).
Oladipo, who is headed for free agency this summer after turning down a $45 million extension offer from the Rockets, was traded twice this season. The Pacers sent Oladipo to Houston in January in the three-team James Harden trade. The Heat then acquired Oladipo in March in a deal that sent Avery Bradley, Kelly Olynyk and the right to swap 2022 first-round picks.
The Heat added Oladipo with an eye toward jump-starting another late-season run but will again have to rely on their youthful depth to provide secondary scoring behind Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo.
Oladipo, 29, emerged as an All-NBA player with the Pacers in a breakout 2017-18 season but has struggled with consistency in his comeback from the initial injury. He averaged 19.8 points in 33 games this season but with low efficiency numbers (40.8% from the floor).
The Heat are battling to the finish line for seeding in the Eastern Conference, sitting fifth and in a tie with the Atlanta Hawks and New York Knicks at 38-31.
