Victor Oladipo suffers season-ending knee injury in Game 3 vs. Bucks

Sunday update: Everyone was hoping, maybe against all hope, that Oladipo’s knee injury in Game 3 against the Bucks was not as serious as it appeared. Unfortunately it is a season-ending knee injury for the Heat guard, according to Shams Charania. Oladipo does have a player option for next season which he’s likely to opt into, so there is some financial buffer for him to work through this latest injury. We wish him a speedy recovery and return to the floor.

The injuries continue to hit in the first-round series between the Miami Heat and Milwaukee Bucks, with Heat guard Victor Oladipo being the latest to succumb to it. Oladipo was helped off the floor after losing his footing on a drive to the basket. He went down and immediately grabbed his left knee, which is a big concern given his injury history. All the energy the Heat had built up on their way to a big Game 3 win was immediately sucked out of the building.

Oladipo had his first major injury in 2018-19 when he ruptured his quad, and every subsequent flare-up in his legs has probably stemmed from that issue. He played 19 games in 2019-20, 33 games in 2020-21 and just eight games last season as he continued to work back to 100%. Seeing this injury is devastating for basketball fans, especially those who have followed Oladipo’s career. Hopefully, he has avoided a serious setback.

With Oladipo potentially sidelined and Tyler Herro already out for the series with a broken hand, Max Strus and Gabe Vincent will have massive roles in the rest of this series. The Heat should be up 2-1 heading into Game 4, but you have to wonder if that edge came at too great a cost emotionally for Miami.