The Houston Rockets and Miami Heat cut it very close to the NBA trade deadline, but they were able to sneak their trade in right at the buzzer.

According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, the Rockets will be sending Victor Oladipo to the Miami Heat in exchange for Avery Bradley, Kelly Olynyk and a draft swap.

You read that right. The same player, in Victor Oladipo, the Rockets had too high of a price on as recently as last week, was traded away for basically nothing.

Bradley is currently nursing an injury and the rebuilding Rockets don’t require another guard. Olynyk is an expiring contract and the draft swap won’t net anything of much value for Houston as the Heat are likely going to be a playoff team every season for the foreseeable future.

This is a disappointing return package for a Rockets team that had Caris LeVert on the team from the James Harden blockbuster and flipped him to the Indiana Pacers for Oladipo. When looking at it from that lens, it is an even drearier picture for Rockets fans.

For the Heat, they come away as one of the biggest winners of the NBA trade deadline. Outside of the Chicago Bulls prying Nikola Vucevic away from the Orlando Magic, Oladipo is arguably the best player acquired today.

While Oladipo isn’t the same player he was before suffering a major injury in 2019, he won’t need to be in Miami. Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo run the show and Oladipo will be able to be more of a complementary player. Given his skill set, the Heat have a dangerous trio, especially defensively.

While Oladipo doesn’t solve their spacing problem, he is still someone they can give the ball to that can create for himself. He is a capable facilitator as well, giving the Heat a lot of versatility on both ends of the court.

To land a player as impactful as Oladipo without trading away Duncan Robinson or Tyler Herro is wonderful work. When you add in what they acquired Trevor Ariza for, the Heat committed highway robbery. Pay Riley worked his magic once again to get what he wanted at his price.