The reactions from Victor Oladipo’s Miami Heat teammates Saturday told the story as he sat on the court, holding onto his left knee as fans watched in stunned silence. Kyle Lowry yelled a profanity. Max Strus covered his face with a towel. Jimmy Butler held his head in his hands, staring at the floor.

They feared he was hurt badly. They were right.

The Heat announced Sunday that Oladipo tore his left patellar tendon, a diagnosis that came after an MRI earlier in the day. The injury ends Oladipo’s season and calls his availability for the start of next season — and likely beyond — into serious doubt. He will need a third major surgery in just over four years, the previous two coming after a quadriceps injury over his right knee.

“Yes, there are injuries. That is a part of this game. We understand that,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said Sunday before the team learned of the diagnosis. “But the human side of it, when you see somebody that’s overcome so much and he’s done it time and time and time again, and he always does it with an incredible positive spirit and a smile on his face — even last night ... that’s why I admire him so much.”

Oladipo’s is the second significant injury for the Heat in the first three games of this postseason against Milwaukee. Eighth-seeded Miami holds a 2-1 lead over the top-seeded Bucks going into Game 4 tonight. Tyler Herro was lost for at least six weeks when he broke his right hand in Game 1 at Milwaukee.

Herro’s injury seemed to open a door for Oladipo to have a bigger role in Miami’s guard rotation; Oladipo played 26 minutes in Game 2 and 19 before getting hurt in Game 3.

Oladipo has missed 255 of a possible 374 games since initially getting hurt while playing for Indiana in 2019. He’s been listed as inactive for 226 of those games, the second most in the NBA over that span behind Orlando’s Jonathan Isaac.

“The physical toll of rehab is tough but mentally, it’s even tougher,” said Heat center Cody Zeller, who played with Oladipo in college at Indiana and has been close with him for years. “And he’s always so positive. He’ll attack this rehab like he has the others. Mentally, I don’t know how he does it. There’s a lot of long days, a lot of slow days and it’s tough to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I’m just sick for him.”

The injury came shortly after Oladipo pulled off perhaps one of his top highlight-reel plays of the season, controlling a rebound at one end, dribbling downcourt at full speed, blowing past three Milwaukee players on his way to the rim and scoring — punching the air in celebration to end that play.

The next shot he took was his last: He drove down the lane, getting past two Bucks, then appeared to slip as he tried to plant for his jump and grabbed at his knee right away as he landed.

Nets are swept, but can build quickly

The Brooklyn Nets finished the same way without Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving as they did with them.

The Nets were swept out of the playoffs, the first team sent home for the summer for the second straight year.

The team that took the floor against the Philadelphia 76ers struggled to score, couldn’t rebound and is miles away from title contention. But that team probably won’t be around next season.

Brooklyn got back plenty of draft picks in the trades of Durant, Irving and James Harden, and will have options to quickly get to a better place than they are now — or were with their superstars.

“There’s not many teams, many organizations I think have ever blown up a superstar-studded group that possibly was in championship contention in one year and have the possibility of championship contention again the very next season,” guard Spencer Dinwiddie said Sunday.

Only three teams own more first-round picks than the Nets between now and 2030, general manager Sean Marks said, giving them flexibility to draft players or package picks in a trade for an established star. He wouldn’t predict a quick rise in the standings, but it can’t be ruled out.

“We have a young group here that is wanting to compete, so we’re going to be going after it every year,” Marks said.

It wasn’t like this last summer, and Marks said the Nets have “a bright pathway.”

The Nets were as high as second in the Eastern Conference before Durant got hurt in early January. After Durant and Irving were traded within days of each other in February, Brooklyn hung on to finish sixth.

With four new starters who were together only two months, the Nets knew they were fighting inexperience and a tough veteran team like Philadelphia in the postseason.

“I think it’s part of the business and I think situations like we were put in this year prepare us for anything that can come up this summer, no matter what it is,” said Cam Johnson, who will be a restricted free agent.