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Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports
As the 2022-23 NBA season rapidly approaches, we take a look at some of the players who are especially hoping to stay healthy and on the court this year.
The old adage “availability is the best ability” holds a lot of truth in the NBA.
While helpful and wise words from the bench are nice, they pale in comparison to being out on the court and actually playing ball. Unfortunately, some injury-prone players are already back on the mend: Lonzo Ball, Jaren Jackson Jr. and Robert Williams have all undergone recent surgery. It will be some time until they are ready to play basketball again.
Below are five players that are looking to avoid a similar fate, hoping to shed that injury-prone label once and for all.
Who is looking to shed injury-prone histories for a healthy NBA season?
5. Victor Oladipo, Miami Heat
Victor Oladipo hasn’t played more than 36 games in a season since 2017-18 when he ascended to All-Star status as the league’s Most Improved Player. Everything changed in Jan. 2019 when he ruptured his quad, a potential career-ending injury. Two trades later and in just his fourth game with the Heat in April 2021, he ruptured the same quad again. Less than a year later, Oladipo was back on the court, dunking on the very Rockets that traded him to Miami.
Dipo is back with the Heat on a current two-year deal with a player option in the second year. In Game 5 of last season’s first-round playoff series against the Atlanta Hawks, Oladipo scored a team-high 23 points, leading the Heat to a win without Jimmy Butler and Kyle Lowry. He would have another 23-point game in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Celtics, and his four steals in Game 3 were a big-time contribution to the Heat’s victory in Boston that night.
