Rockets: 3 reasons why the Oladipo trade isn’t as bad as it seems

Oladipo had 1 year left on his contract and it just did not make sense for teams to shell out talent for a possible rental.

It was a hectic day on Thursday where NBA fans awaited on their phones for a “breaking news” tweet from either Adrian Wojnarowski or Shams Charania. The NBA trade deadline did not disappoint as some big faces that were rumored to be on the trade block ended up on a different team for this season. A couple of those players were Aaron Gordon, Nikola Vucevic, and the Houston Rockets very own, Victor Oladipo.

Many fans were heavily disappointed with the Houston Rockets’ transactions, or lack thereof I should say. With the team rumored to have been exploring many different trade outlets that could have netted them a young player or draft assets, they instead came up with a last minute return package from the Miami Heat for Oladipo.

3 reasons why the Victor Oladipo trade is good for the Houston Rockets

After being part of a 4-team trade earlier this season when the Houston Rockets dealt James Harden to the Brooklyn Nets, Oladipo found himself in a new city seeking a new beginning after suffering a ruptured quad tendon with the Indiana Pacers in January 2019. Oladipo was the preferred trade target for the Houston Rockets over Caris LeVert and Jarrett Allen of the Brooklyn Nets, who were sent to the Pacers and Cavaliers respectively.

On the NBA Trade deadline, the Houston Rockets sent Oladipo in an exchange for Avery Bradley, Kelly Olynyk and 2022 first-round swap rights, which will include Brooklyn’s pick. To put a damper on an already bleak situation, that pick swap is also lottery protected unfortunately.

While the Houston Rockets fell significantly short of landing talent that aligns with their vision of rebuilding for Oladipo, the reality is that the trade isn’t as bad as it seems. Here are 3 reasons to justify this!

Next: No. 3