NBA Trade Grades: Miami Heat get Victor Oladipo from the Rockets
By Duncan Smith
The Miami Heat and the Houston Rockets did business at the NBA trade deadline, and Victor Oladipo ended up in his chosen spot as a result. There’s been mutual interest between Oladipo and the Heat for some time, and the deal is finally done.
As the Rockets are in free-fall and closer to the bottom of the league’s standings than the playoffs, getting some value for Oladipo was imperative. Whether they actually got that value or not, we’ll evaluate that in our NBA trade grades.
NBA trade grades: The Houston Rockets send Victor Oladipo to the Miami Heat
For starters, let’s take a look at the trade package between the two teams.
Miami gets:
- Victor Oladipo
Houston gets:
- Avery Bradley
- Kelly Olynyk
- Pick swap
It’s probably less than the Rockets were hoping to get for Oladipo on the trade market, but something is better than nothing in this case. As for the Heat, they managed to avoid striking out on star guards at the NBA trade deadline after they weren’t able to find a deal for Kyle Lowry with the Toronto Raptors.
Both teams found something they were looking for, and the Heat should be especially pleased now that they have fortified their roster as they look to move up the Eastern Conference standings. The Heat are just 22-22 and are fifth in the East, half a game behind the fourth-place Charlotte Hornets, and they don’t have much chance to move up higher than that but avoiding dropping in the standings and facing the Philadelphia 76ers, Brooklyn Nets or Milwaukee Bucks in the first round is vital.
We’ll break down and grade this deal from the perspective of both teams, starting with the Miami Heat.