Heat’s Victor Oladipo healthy and making music again: ‘I’m in a good place’

Miami Heat guard Victor Oladipo has made a few comebacks in recent seasons in the wake of two surgeries on his right knee in the last three-plus years, but this comeback is a little different.

With Oladipo coming off his first full healthy offseason since 2018, the two-time All-Star who does some singing on the side also just released his first single in two years. “Symphony” was released on Sept. 30 and his third album — first since 2018 — is in the works.

“It just feels good to be able to put out music again,” Oladipo said ahead of Monday night’s preseason matchup against the Houston Rockets at FTX Arena. “I’ve kind of been taking a break from it because I’ve been dealing with my injuries and life in general. But it feels good. I’m in a good place. I’m getting better every day, I’m improving. So I just wanted to share my good energy with the world.”

Oladipo, 30, isn’t sure yet when his new album will be released, but he has settled on a title: “The Tunde Album.”

“Tunde in my native language means return and it’s my return to music, return to a full offseason and just my return in general,” said Oladipo, whose parents were both born and raised in Nigeria. “I thought it fit.”

The album will represent Oladipo’s first attempt at Afrobeats, a Nigerian music genre that features a combination of West African musical styles and American funk, jazz, and soul influences.

“I hope everybody likes it, really,” said Oladipo, who appeared on “The Masked Singer” in 2019. “It’s about good energy, good vibes and that’s what I pretty much am. That’s what I’m all about.”

Oladipo is expected to make his preseason debut on Monday after missing the Heat’s first three exhibition games. Although he began singing as an 8-year-old at his church, Oladipo made clear that basketball is and always will be his “forever love.”

It’s just that Oladipo, the basketball player, has been limited by two serious knee injuries in recent years.

Oladipo, who was acquired by Miami through a trade with the Houston Rockets in March 2021, has appeared in just 12 regular-season games with the Heat because of a second surgery that was needed to repair the quadriceps tendon in his right knee in May 2021. He ruptured that same tendon in January 2019 and returned a year later in January 2020.

Music helped Oladipo get through the dark times during those long recoveries. Now, his hope is to remain healthy this season while also continuing to create his own music again.

“I think it’s essential,” Oladipo said when asked about the importance of music. “There’s a song for every feeling, every emotion. So whatever you’re going through, there’s a song for it that can get you out of it or get you through it or help you feel even better than how you’re feeling already. That’s the power that music has.”

BACK AGAIN

Guard Mychal Mulder was cut by the Heat in 2019 and then again this past July. But Mulder has returned to the Heat for a third time, signing an Exhibit 10 contract on Sunday to finish off the preseason with Miami.

“I really respect that and we value that kind of perseverance and grit. It reminds me of Rodney McGruder,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “I mean, we literally turned him away three times and had those tough conversations. But we kept the relationship.

“You might not be the 20-year-old prospect, but you’re still a prospect in our eyes. We value Mychal’s makeup. His game certainly fits. His ability to catch and shoot off the ball, but his makeup, how he carries himself, his progression, these are the kind of things that we want to go out of our way to try to help him. It might be here, it might be somewhere else. But one way or another, we want to make sure this guy gets in and he sticks and he makes it.”

Like the others signed to Exhibit 10 deals on the Heat’s preseason roster, Mulder is expected to be waived again by Miami this weekend in order to be moved to the organization’s G League affiliate, the Sioux Falls Skyforce.

“This place is not for everybody,” Mulder said of returning to the Heat. “It’s hard, it’s harder than a lot of places. If you want an easy path or an easy camp or whatever, don’t come here. I think I’ve known from Day 1 that it is for me, though. That’s why I continue to keep knocking on the door. I just want to make sure this works.”

And not much has changed since last season, when Mulder ended the year on a two-way deal with the Heat before he was released this past summer.

“There are a couple of plays that they changed the name and that’s about it,” he said. “Other than that, I’m really familiar with the schemes. I’m really familiar with the offense and the defense, the coaching staff. It’s been great to be able to be an environment where I’m used to those sorts of things. So the learning curve isn’t as big. It’s just about continuing to develop and get better, and get in where you fit in.”

▪ The Heat trio of Bam Adebayo, Jimmy Butler and Kyle Lowry will not play on Monday against the Rockets for rest purposes. Tyler Herro (right knee contusion) and Omer Yurtseven (left ankle soreness) are also being held out.

Caleb Martin (right knee tendinitis) is listed as questionable for the contest.