Torn patellar tendon for Victor Oladipo, Heat guard out with knee injury for playoffs and months beyond

A worst-case scenario turned into Victor Oladipo’s scenario Sunday, with an MRI confirming that the veteran Miami Heat reserve guard suffered a torn patellar tendon in his left knee during the closing stages of Saturday night’s NBA playoff victory over the Milwaukee Bucks at the Kaseya Center.

Oladipo will be out for the balance of the playoffs and beyond, the second Heat guard sidelined during the series, after starting shooting guard Tyler Herro broke his right hand during Game 1 of the best-of-seven Eastern Conference playoff series the Heat lead 2-1 going into Monday’s 7:30 p.m. Game 4 at the Kaseya Center.

The Kaseya Center went silent Saturday with the Heat ahead by 25 late in the fourth quarter, with teammates in shocked disbelief when Oladipo went down on a drive to the basket with 3:56 left in Saturday night’s 121-99 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks.

His career derailed numerous times since he ruptured a quadriceps tendon in his right knee while with the Indiana Pacers in January 2019, Oladipo was assisted off the court in Game 3 with the help of teammates and training staff, seemingly already aware by then of the magnitude of the injury.

It was a sobering moment on what should have been a celebratory night.

“It’s tough, man,” said guard Duncan Robinson, visibly shaken by the injury. “Obviously it’s a mix of emotions, first one just thinking of him, and you’ve just kind of got a pit in your stomach after seeing something like that and watching him work and come back from the injuries that he’s come back from and showed the resilience that he has.

“Never count him out, obviously. But it hurts to see somebody that you care about go through something like that.”

Oladipo’s left leg significantly gave way after he drove past Bucks forward Bobby Portis on what appeared to be a simple explosive, trademark drive to the rim.

A stretcher was then brought out, with the 30-year-old guard refusing to be carted off.

The Heat declined to offer a recovery timetable, noting only in a release, “He will miss the remainder of the postseason,” with surgery now to follow, with Oladipo to be forced away from the court for months. Oladipo was not made available for comment after Saturday night’s game or on Sunday.

“When you see a player go down like that,” coach Erik Spoelstra said, “particularly a player like Vic, who’s gone through so much in the last three years ... that’s definitely not a good feeling to see Vic on the floor like that.”

Spoelstra said all the raw emotion still was there Sunday, as the rest of the team regrouped for treatments and video.

“Sports, this forum of sports, you feel so many different emotions,” Spoelstra said ahead of the official word on Oladipo’s injury. “I think that was encapsulated in one night. We felt so good about the effort that we put forward to be able to win the game. The game was in hand, and then to have a moment like that, where it just swings and goes 180 degrees the other direction. Yes, there are injuries, that is a part of this game. We understand that. But the human side of it, when you see somebody that’s overcome so much, that he’s done it time and time again, and he always does it with an incredible positive spirit, and a smile on his face.

“Even last night, he was smiling and is like, ‘We’ll find out what it is. Don’t get all emotional around me.’ I must have looked pretty emotional, but that’s why I admire him so much and his fortitude. So let’s just see what it is and pray and hope for the best.”

It wasn’t the best.

Forward Jimmy Butler said it is just another test for a team that has faced ample adversity.

“We’ve got some strong-minded, some strong-willed individuals, that really care about one another, for one, that really want to do right by everybody, and want to be the best person, basketball player, example for this city, as we all can be,” he said.

Acquired by the Heat at the March 2021 NBA trading deadline from the Houston Rockets in exchange for Kelly Olynyk, Avery Bradley and a draft-pick swap, Oladipo has missed extensive time at the starts of the past two seasons recovering from ailments, appearing in only eight regular-season games in 2021-22 and 42 this season.

Under NBA rules, teams may not add replacement players during the playoffs unless the number of available players is reduced to nine or fewer. In addition, players on two-way contracts, such as the Heat’s Jamal Cain and Orlando Robinson, are not eligible for playoff rosters. Herro has been ruled out for at least six weeks.

That not only leaves the Heat with 12 available players with playoff eligibility due to the Herro and Oladipo injuries, as well as the back spasms that have sidelined rookie big man Nikola Jovic for months, but only two remaining ball-handling guards, in 37-year-old veteran Kyle Lowry and former undrafted free-agent Gabe Vincent.

“The next guy’s going to have to step up,” said Lowry, who has been listed as questionable for each game since returning March 11 from a monthlong absence due to knee pain, wearing ice packs while seated on the bench. “And we understand that we’ll get more minutes from Gabe and more minutes from myself, Caleb [Martin].

“We’ve just got to continue to step up and maximize who we have on the floor.”

So Spoelstra went to work Sunday recalibrating what remains of his backcourt rotation.

“Well,” Spoelstra said, “we still have a task at hand, and you have to compartmentalize. We have to get ready for a big game.”

Oladipo holds a player option for $9.5 million for next season on the second and final year of the two-year, $18.2 million contract he signed last July to return to the Heat. That contract is fully guaranteed, with the Heat with limited salary recourse in the case of a long-term absence.

“We’re all praying for the best,” Robinson said. “But still, he’s dealt with a lot of adversity in that department.”