Pacers guard Victor Oladipo knew right away that the injury he suffered tonight was significant, tweets Ryan Wolstat of The Toronto Sun. There are concerns that Oladipo may need surgery on his right knee that will keep him out for the rest of the season, but the team will await the results of an MRI tomorrow before making a decision.
“I just slipped and knew it was serious,” he told reporters after tonight’s game. “We’ll see what tomorrow shows and go from there. My teammates stepped up earlier this season and everyone has the utmost confidence going forward.”
Oladipo is Indiana’s top scorer at 19.2 points per game and leads the team in steals with 1.7 per night. He made the All-Star Game for the first time last season and was in contention for another trip this year.
“It’s tough watching our best player go down,” teammate Darren Collison said in a video tweeted by the Pacers. “Not just because he’s our best player but because he’s one of the best people to be around.”
There’s more from the Central Division:
- The Pacers have two weeks until the trade deadline to figure out how they want to proceed without Oladipo, writes Jeremy Woo of Sports Illustrated. Indiana is third in the East at 32-15 and making the playoffs shouldn’t be a concern, but Woo states that it’s hard to see the Pacers having any postseason success without Oladipo. He notes that they have roughly $59MM in expiring contracts in Collison, Tyreke Evans, Bojan Bogdanovic, Thaddeus Young, Cory Joseph and Kyle O’Quinn that could be moved for future assets if they decide to play for next season. Indiana will be in position to offer a max contract this summer, but Woo notes that the team’s bargaining power with free agents could be reduced if Oladipo’s rehab stretches into next season.
- Bulls point guard Kris Dunn had extra motivation in his matchup with Hawks rookie Trae Young tonight, according to Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times. Even though Chicago’s front office assured Dunn that he was the team’s point guard of the future, they brought in Young for a pre-draft workout and had legitimate interest in selecting him, Cowley writes. Dunn prevailed in the individual matchup, holding Young to a 1-for-12 shooting night, but Atlanta won the game.
- Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers become a minority investor in the Bucks when he bought a 1% share of the team last year, but he tells Jim Owczarski of Packers News that he might be interested in expanding his role in the future. “When I’m done playing, there’s going to have to be something to fuel the competitive juices,” Rodgers said, “and being involved in sports would be great as long as it’s not commenting or maybe a GM. The ownership part seems a little more my speed and what I want to do when I retire from sports.”
Rip pacers.. again, like every year..
One possibility for Indiana would be Kent Bazemore of the Hawks. He could possibly become a Victor Oladipo on that team. Remember Oladipo was a lot less successful until he got there as well.
They could probably get Bazemore for Tyreke Evans, Cory Joseph, and their 1st round pick. Maybe not even that much.
I think that’s too much for bazemore
It probably is in theory, but you have to match up salary and the draft pick is probably going to be in the 20’s, so it’s not THAT big a loss. Even if it is a slight overpay, I think the price would be higher for any other quality replacement for Oladipo.
Cory joseph, tj leaf and 2 seconds for baze and maybe dedmon.
That doesn’t work financially. Bazemore is an $18 million guy. You can’t just send $9 million in Joseph and Leaf back to get him plus someone else. Evans or Collison would have to be included to make the numbers work. I figured since Evans played the same position, he would make the most sense.
Never, ever post something you havent ran through NBA Trade Machine
I always replaced the words said at the beginning ot the harlem shake with “victor oladipo”. I also, despite having a damon stoudamire jersey before the raps ever tipped off, thought reggie miller was the man. And he was tbh. Dropping threes on the knicks while talking shizz to spike lee was amazing, resigning with the pacers after some racist fellas burned down his mansion, retiring with a 18 plus is scoring average, and thinking hard but still declining a playoff run with boston the year the big 3 won a title….
Oladipo was the next reggie in my eyes.
Lovely story, but I don’t see any comp between victor and Reggie other than they’ve both played for the pacers..
Forgot about that song 100%. Thanks for the memory lane trip.
So everyone was saying trade for Mike Conley before Dipo got hurt.
The trade for Conley = Young, Evans, Joseph or Collison.
Not sure that helps them this year get past the 1st round, but it helps them next year. You can’t just tank from the 27th pick to the lottery b/c Dipo went down. Indy, like Philly is a destination that most ‘stars’ aren’t going to go even w/49M Cap Space. Need to get someone in the door. Like you aren’t maxing out Boogie if you have Turner & Sabonis. Tobias Harris/Khris Middleton is the best you could possibly land. With Conley in the fold, they would have 14.5 M left to fill out the bench. If you had them take back McBuckets & Leaf you’d have 24.4 M. Enough to retain Bojan? and fill out the bench.
Conley
Dipo
McBuckets
Sabonis
Turner
The only problem with Evans going back is that there was a bad exit in Memphis for him. The Grizzlies might not want him back. You could probably do Young, Collison, and Joseph along with picks. Might not be such a bad idea. If you added Tobias Harris to the mix, you might have a #1 seed in the East.
I think the argument for getting Conley is a lot weaker now. Before Oladipo’s injury, you could potentially see Conley pushing the Pacers over the hump in the East. Now, Conley would just help the Pacers lose in the first round in 6 games instead of 5, while significantly handicapping the future with his giant contract.
Getting Conley this year is bc you have the expiring contracts to do so. You cant trade for an All Star caliber player next year without giving up future 1sts. If a team even values their 1sts.