Pacers guard Victor Oladipo remains undecided whether he’ll play in Orlando, but he’ll be included on the team’s travel party list, according to ESPN’s Eric Woodyard.
Oladipo, who spoke with the media via Zoom on Wednesday morning, has some concerns about suffering an injury setback. Oladipo endured a long-term rehab for his surgically repaired quad tendon and returned to action in late January.
He appeared in 13 games before play was halted, averaging 13.8 PPG in 25.9 MPG. He scored a season-high 27 points in 29 minutes against Boston in Indiana’s last game on March 10.
“At the end of the day, it takes time for your body to heal,” he said. “They’re sure I feel better, but at the same time we’ve had an extensive period of time off and to go back and ramp things up again, I’m susceptible to injury more so than anyone else, seeing as how I was already injured beforehand and I wasn’t 100 percent when I came back to begin with.”
Oladipo went on to elaborate about his injury risk. He’ll be playing on an expiring contract next season, when he makes $21MM. Indiana enters the Orlando bubble with the Eastern Conference’s fifth-best record at 39-26.
“A part of rehab is working your way back and getting yourself to 100 percent, so at the end of the day going back and turning things up as quickly as we’re about to do, and pretty much going to playoff formation and playoff games after eight (seeding) games, I’m more susceptible to injury than anyone else is,” he said. “So, it’s not about now, it’s about longevity.”
The Pacers have resumed mandatory individual workouts at the St. Vincent Center in Indianapolis, Woodyard notes, but are giving Oladipo space and time to make up his mind.
“I don’t have a deadline,” he said.
Oladipo might as well sit out and concentrate on next year.
There’s very little chance that Indiana can get past Miami or Boston.
Yeah, if I were him, and had any doubt about my knee health, I would sit out.
I would agree with you in regards to Indy getting past the first round, but Bubble Ball may have enough chaos to allow an unexpected team to make a deep run in the playoffs. It would just take one player getting the virus to throw a whole team off.
If he’s going to be that way, let someone else have his spot. He is NOT in a contract year and he already decided to come back in January. He was lucky to make allstar 18/19 for a second time, playing only 36 games with mediocre stats, 18PER.
I totally agree! So far he is just a one season wonder, last year before the injury was real bad & this year after his come back, he held IND back, so probably is best for the team to go without him, more chances of doing well. Brogdon/Sabonis are much better players anyway, let’s focus on them!