NBA trade deadline winners and losers (Can you guess which ones go where?)

The Rockets piece of this is frustrating if you’re a fan of the team, who only have draft picks and pick swaps to show for the departure of James Harden. For Oladipo, who was received in the deal as opposed to current Indiana Pacer Caris LeVert, Houston got back Avery Bradley, Kelly Olynyk, and a 2022 pick swap from Miami. That’s it. They recently ended a 20-game losing streak, and are now considerably worse without a lot of promise to show going forward.

Having just touched on this earlier, here’s what I wrote regarding why Oladipo could have an immense impact while in Miami.

“And, in all likelihood, they’ll probably get the best version of Oladipo. They damn near have to. Oladipo will be a free agent this summer, and he’ll turn 29 years old in May, making this his last opportunity at a huge contract. He’s also on his fifth team in six seasons, so it would behoove him to start busting people’s asses. The Heat are just 22-23 amid their current five-game losing streak, and if Oladipo could impact winning in a meaningful way, it’ll bode well for his financial ambitions.

Moreover, Miami is where he wanted to be the whole time. He’s lived and trained there. Miami’s done more with less, so why would they think this isn’t going to work out? It basically has to.”

Additionally, Oladipo scored over 20 points per game in Houston but shot inefficiently on a tanking team. But the Heat aren’t that, they’ve kept nearly their entire rotation in-tact, and Oladipo provides the consistent scoring punch from the guard spot, along with an on-ball defender, they’ve needed. It’s the move that could perhaps shake up the title picture the most because of the outlined reasons above and the uncertainty atop the Eastern Conference.