Where things stand with Heat’s Oladipo after his knee surgery and when he might return

Miami Heat guard Victor Oladipo very likely will miss the start of next season after knee surgery on Thursday, but he remains optimistic that he can play at some point next season, according to a league source close to the situation.

Oladipo underwent surgery to repair the quadriceps tendon, a part of his right knee that initially was seriously injured in a game in January 2019, when he played for the Indiana Pacers. Oladipo missed a calendar year — and six days — before playing in another NBA game after that.

That 2019 surgery appears to have never fully repaired the injury and Oladipo never completely healed, as it turned out.

Oladipo hasn’t played since aggravating the injury on a dunk on April 8 against the Lakers. The Heat identified his ailment as “knee soreness” on injury reports.

While the April 8 incident did not create a new tear, Oladipo had been playing with a partially torn quad tendon that was fully repaired during Thursday’s procedure in New York.

There was no full tear, and as a result, Oladipo’s surgery Thursday wasn’t quite as serious — in terms of anticipated recovery time — as the January 2019 operation.

While a return to game action potentially in January or February remains a strong possibility, much will depend on how quickly the injury heals following Thursday’s surgery and how soon he can regain strength in the knee.

He’s essentially in a holding pattern for the next 8 to 10 weeks, as the tendon heals.

No surprises — as far as additional damage to the knee — were discovered during the surgery, which was deemed a success. Oladipo expects to return from this with the knee in a far better position than it was after the first surgery.

Oladipo, who turned 29 on May 4, will become an unrestricted free agent on Aug. 1 and would love to return to the Heat, according to the source. He’s earning $22 million on an expiring contract.

Oladipo must decide whether he finds a financial offer to his liking this summer, one that would motivate him to play at some point next season if he’s healthy enough, as opposed to waiting until 2022-23.

The Heat will need to decide not only whether to re-sign Oladipo — without knowing specifically when he will be able to play — but also whether to A) operate as an over-the-cap team, which would allow Miami to surpass the salary cap to sign Oladipo, Goran Dragic (if his $19 million team option is declined) and Trevor Ariza or

B) operate as a room team, which would give the Heat between $22 million and $28 million to use on outside free agents, such as Kyle Lowry, but make it more difficult to re-sign Oladipo, Dragic and Ariza.

A two-time All-Star, Oladipo played in just four games with the Heat before the injury. He averaged 12 points while shooting 37.2 percent from the field and 23.5 percent on threes, 3.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.8 steals in his limited time with the Heat this season.

According to a source, Oladipo attempted to return this season but was not able to do so because the knee did not feel right. The Heat agreed with his decision to have this week’s surgery.

The Heat acquired Oladipo in a trade with the Houston Rockets at the NBA trade deadline on March 25. Miami traded guard Avery Bradley and center Kelly Olynyk to acquire Oladipo, and also agreed to a 2022 first-round pick swap with Houston.

STANDINGS UPDATE

The Heat (39-31) enters the weekend in fifth place in the Eastern Conference standings, with just two regular-season games left on its schedule.

Miami has already clinched a playoff spot and is guaranteed to finish in either the No. 4, 5 or 6 spot in the conference, as it battles for playoff positioning with the No. 4 Atlanta Hawks and No. 6 New York Knicks. The Heat, Hawks and Knicks are all idle Friday.

The Heat stands one-half game behind the No. 4 Hawks (40-31), and Atlanta owns the head-to-head tiebreaker over Miami after winning the season series 2-1.

The No. 6 Knicks (39-31) have the same record as the Heat. But Miami is ahead in the standings because it owns the tiebreaker over New York after winning the season series 3-0.

Atlanta has just one remaining regular-season game left to play: Sunday vs. Houston Rockets at 7 p.m.

New York has two remaining regular-season games left to play: Saturday vs. Charlotte Hornets at 1 p.m. and Sunday vs. Boston Celtics at 1 p.m.

Miami has two remaining regular-season games left to play: Saturday at Milwaukee Bucks at 8 p.m. and Sunday at Detroit Pistons at 8 p.m.

If the Hawks defeat the Rockets on Sunday, they will clinch the No. 4 seed regardless of what the Heat and Knicks do this weekend.

The only way the Heat can move up to No. 4 is if Atlanta loses its regular-season finale and Miami wins both of its remaining games.

If the Heat wins its two games this weekend and the Hawks win on Sunday, the Heat would open the playoffs with a first-round series against the Hawks. Atlanta would have home-court advantage in this scenario as the fourth-place team.

But if Miami loses one or both of its remaining games, it opens the door for the Heat to fall to No. 6 depending on the results of the Knicks’ games.

The Hawks, Knicks, Bucks and Brooklyn Nets are the four most likely potential first-round opponents for the Heat.