Oladipo emerging for Pacers
Victor Oladipo has propelled 16-11 Pacers
Forward Paul George returns to Indiana for the first time as a member of the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday. Although that is a significant story line, it’s not the biggest development from the trade that sent George from the Indiana Pacers to the Thunder.
Guard Victor Oladipo, who the Pacers acquired along with center-forward Domantas Sabonis in that deal, is having a career season, headed for his first AllStar appearance, a strong candidate for Most Improved Player and has propelled the Pacers to a 16-11 record.
His performance has altered the view of that trade, a deal in which Pacers president of basketball operation Kevin Pritchard was criticized. “Equitable wasn’t going to happen,” Indianapolis Star columnist Gregg Doyel wrote at the time of the June 30 trade. “Winning wasn’t going to happen. But did the Pacers have to lose this badly?”
Today, with the Thunder struggling, the Pacers surging and George having an underwhelming season, that trade looks much better for the Pacers and Pritchard’s deal-making skills.
“Stupid is no way to go through life, so let’s smarten up,” Doyel’s mea culpa began in early November. “The line starts behind me: Nobody lost the Paul George trade. Not if everybody won it.”
Oladipo, who played college basketball at Indiana, is averaging career highs in points (24.5 per game), rebounds (5.3 per game), steals (1.8 per game), blocks
(1.1 per game), shooting percentage
(48.5%) and three-point percentage
(44.4%) — stats that are pointedly better than his one season with the Thunder and three previous seasons with the Orlando Magic.
“I invested in myself — in my body and in my mind and in my career,” Ola- dipo told USA TODAY by phone Tuesday. “I did the things I thought were necessary to be at my optimal level. Obviously, I still have a lot of work to do and a lot to improve and a lot of places to get better. I just have to continue to keep working hard so I can get there.”
Initially bothered by his second trade in one year, Oladipo, 25, focused on what he could do: improving. He worked on his strength and conditioning and confidence.
“I’m not really worried about people’s opinions, because I can’t control that,” he said. “I’m motivated by trying to be the best. That’s why I was working hard — even before the trade happened.”
Coming off a career-high 47 points in the Pacers’ 126-116 overtime victory against the Denver Nuggets on Sunday, Oladipo is 10th in scoring and the topscoring guard in the Eastern Conference. The Pacers ended the Cleveland Cavaliers’ 13-game winning streak in the previous game (Oladipo had 33 points) and have won 11 of their last 15 games.
It turned out to be a sly trade for Indiana. Sabonis, who is 21 and in his second season, is having a breakout season, too, revealing his value as a pickand-roll scorer and rebounder. Sabonis averages 12.1 points and 8.5 rebounds.
Who fleeced who, again, especially considering the Thunder could lose George to another team in free agency after this season?
The over-under on Pacers’ wins at the start of the season was 31.5. Few expected much from Indiana.
“I guess from the outside looking in, it wasn’t a sexy roster,” Oladipo said. “Sometimes, that doesn’t matter. You don’t really concern ourselves with that because we can’t control it.”
It is a deep roster mixed with youth and veterans: guard Lance Stephenson, 27; third-year center Myles Turner, 21; guard Cory Joseph, 26; forward Bojan Bogdanovic, 28; forward Thaddeus Young, 29; guard Darren Collison, 30.
“These guys are definitely hungry,” Oladipo said.