Miami Heat guard Victor Oladipo tore the patellar tendon in his left knee and will miss the rest of the postseason, the team announced Sunday.
Oladipo collapsed to the floor during the fourth quarter of Saturday night’s Game 3 win over the Milwaukee Bucks, which gave Miami a 2-1 lead in the Eastern Conference first-round series. Oladipo yelled an expletive and immediately began clutching his left knee on the ground after the incident. He did not return to the game.
Oladipo had averaged 11.5 points in 22.5 minutes per game this postseason.
“It was a great win, but when you see a player go down like that and particularly a player like Vic, who has gone through so much in the last three years — I don’t know what it is right now, so I don’t want to jump the gun on anything,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said after Game 3. “But that’s definitely not a good feeling to see.”
Oladipo, who turns 31 next month, has already endured a major knee injury in his career — a ruptured quad tendon in his right knee in January 2019 that required a second surgery in May 2021. He did not play in his first game until March 7, 2022, following that injury.
Heat star Jimmy Butler also went down in Saturday’s game with a bruised glute. Tyler Herro is likely out until at least the NBA Finals, should Miami advance that far, with a broken right hand.
Game 4 is on Monday night in Miami.
ESPN’s Jamal Collier contributed to this story.