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As the trade deadline approaches, Victor Oladipo’s business chatter escalates.
The Golden State Warriors are the latest team to show interest in trading Oladipo, according to The Ringer’s Kevin O’Connor. But the New York Knicks are still in contention based on the latest reporting from Marc Berman of the New York Post and Scoop B.
Knicks are also on the line for Rockets guard Victor Oladipo, I hear. https://t.co/jbUZ6dZwt0
– đź‘‘đź“ŤBrandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson (@ScoopB) March 9, 2021
Oladipo is averaging 19.9 points, 4.7 rebounds, 4.7 assists and 1.4 steals in 15 games for the Rockets while shooting 39% from the field and just 31% from the three-point zone. But he notched a season record 33 and five trebles in their recent loss to the Brooklyn Nets.
Oladipo cost the Rockets a rising star for Caris LeVert, who is expected to pay $ 35 million over the next two seasons, and a future second-round pick. First-year Houston general manager Rafael Stone said at the time that the Oladipo business is about creating flexibility.
“Your hope is for a perfect marriage,” Stone said during the days of the trade. “(Oladipo’s) is an extremely talented player. He’s a two-way street player. He performed at an extraordinarily high level. He obviously had a major injury. He is back. He’s already really, really good, but I think in his own mind and ours there’s still room to grow, which is really exciting.
“I think for him and for us it’s like a really exciting time where we can see if it works. Hopefully it works just for gangbusters, and then we take it from there. “
Two months after the exchange, the Oladipo experiment appears to be a failure on the surface. But when the Rockets were healthy, Oladipo was their most valuable two-way player with the best defensive odds.
Despite a 13-game losing streak in the NBA All-Star break, the Rockets haven’t seen enough Oladipo, John Wall and Christian Wood together to factor in their decisions regarding trade deadlines.
The Rockets’ post-James Harden version of the “ Big 3 diet ” has only shared the field for 53 minutes together this season.
The Houston front office doesn’t seem ready to pull the trigger on a fire sale just yet.
“The Rockets have no interest, according to someone familiar with the team’s thinking, in continuing their version of ‘The Process’, trading veterans to collect assets and losses that could help lottery odds,” Houston Chronicle and Rockets insider Jonathan Feigen recently wrote.
The Rockets owe their 2021 first-round pick, top-four protectors, to Oklahoma City as part of the Chris Paul-Russell Westbrook trade. If the Rockets remain one of the top three worst teams, the best they could have is a 52.1% chance of landing in the top four. There is still a good chance that their choice will go to the Thunder; therefore, their reluctance to tank is understandable.
So Houston is torn between large-scale rebuilding and trying to stay relevant.
While Wood is expected to return after the All-Star break, the Rockets will have at least four games to assess whether they return or keep Oladipo.
That’s where the flexibility Stone was talking about comes in.
The Rockets could create around $ 20 million in cap space if they let Oladipo and their veterans on expired agreements work after the season.
There’s also a slim chance the Rockets could work on a signing and trade with Oladipo similar to the Gordon Hayward deal between Boston and Charlotte to create a large amount of trade exceptions during the offseason.
Their best bet is to return Oladipo on the trade deadline. But at what cost?
“The situation of Victor Oladipo, he will absolutely interest the teams but the Rockets must assess what they report. If they’re making $ 21 million in contracts, they want these guys better, ”Feigen recently told Texas Sports Nation.
The Rockets have given up on LeVert and a draft pick for Oladipo, so we assume they would want something more or of the same value.
The Miami Heat have Tyler Herro and Duncan Robinson, but they stand tall, thinking they could land Oladipo for free in free agency.
The Warriors don’t have much to offer except Kelly Oubre, Jr., unless they want to overturn the Minnesota Timberwolves’ top-three choice of D’Angelo Russell trade.
Other than Julius Randle, RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley, the Knicks don’t have any players the Rockets would consider a potential centerpiece. But they have expiring deals and the capital project to lure the Rockets.
The crux of a potential trade with Oladipo isn’t just what the Rockets would want in exchange but, more importantly, how the Knicks view him at this point in his career.
Will Oladipo ever be healthy?
He’s only 28, but he’s never played a full season since joining the league. The maximum he’s played is 80 games in his freshman year. He has only played a total of 55 games in the past two seasons. This season, he has yet to play consecutive games.
Is this a short term rental, or do they think they have a chance to keep it beyond this season?
Oladipo is definitely an improvement over Reggie Bullock for the offensively challenged Knicks and can improve their playoff chances. If the Knicks trade for him, the feeling is they’re trying to beat Heat in the recruiting process; that they believe their new culture will attract Oladipo to stay in New York beyond the season.
But it is a double-edged sword.
There’s this risk that the Knicks still won’t make the playoffs, and therefore Oladipo would still want to go into the more established Heat organization.
If there’s anything we’ve learned from Leon Rose’s leadership so far, they’re navigating this Knicks rebuild with caution and patience.
The overwhelming feeling is that the Knicks will come out the season with what they have and make the big moves this summer.
Follow this writer on Twitter: @Shutterstock
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