There was a time when Victor Oladipo was seen as one of the better guards in the NBA when he was with the Indiana Pacers. He made back-to-back All-Star appearances in 2018 and 2019 while also establishing himself as one of the best defenders in the league, but then the injury bug struck.
Oladipo suffered a knee injury in January of 2019 and it would take over a year for him to finally get back on the court. While he showed he was still capable of playing at a good level on his return, he just wasn’t the same All-Star caliber player. The Pacers proceeded to ship him off to Houston in January of 2021, and the rebuilding Rockets traded him to the Heat just two months later.
Victor Oladipo Says The Whole League Thinks He Is A Starter
Oladipo hasn’t played a whole lot for the Heat in all this time due to his injuries, but he did get healthy this past postseason and played his part in getting them to the Eastern Conference Finals. He was coming off the bench, however, and Oladipo, who signed a 2-year, $18 million deal with the team in the offseason, wants to get a starting role now.
“I’ve been a starter my whole career. Do I want to start? Yeah. But at the end of the day I’m going to play as hard as I can. I know I’m a starter and I think the whole league thinks I’m a starter, too.”
– Victor Oladipo
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— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) September 28, 2022
“I’ve been a starter my whole career. Do I want to start? Yeah. But at the end of the day I’m going to play as hard as I can. I know I’m a starter and I think the whole league thinks I’m a starter, too.”
– Victor Oladipo
The Heat do seem to have a little bit of a problem here as Oladipo is their second bench player from last season who wants a starting role. Tyler Herro stated earlier this year that he felt he had earned a starting role and we’ll soon find out who they go with. Miami did lose PJ Tucker this offseason so there is a spot open in the starting lineup and one of these two might well fill in.
They both could potentially find their way in too, as Max Strus didn’t exactly cement his place in the lineup with the way he played in the playoffs, so depending on how training camp goes, the Heat might just shift things up a bit this season. Someone who is actually certain to be a starter is Kyle Lowry, despite his struggles in this past postseason. Injuries had something to do with that and team president Pat Riley questioned Lowry’s conditioning due to those issues, but the former All-Star brushed aside the criticism.
