The Good, The Bad, and What’s Next: Ladies and gentleman we officially have an All-Star

The Good: Victor Oladipo officially named a 2018 NBA All-Star, Domantas Sabonis selected to participate in Rising Stars Challenge

Remember when this happened? Everyone in Oklahoma City thought it was so funny, like the funniest thing they’ve ever seen. “Hell yeah, ain’t that the truth.”

I can imagine them all sitting around talking at some type of strange, storm watchin’ party (that’s what they do in Oklahoma right?) saying “did you see that tweet about the Oklahoma City Police Department gettin’ reports of theft by Thunder? You know cuz’ they stole Paul George from the Pacers? Ain’t that so true.”

Fast forward to January 23rd at 6:00 PM, when the fellas from TNT announced that Pacers guard Victor Oladipo made the all-star game, marking his first all-star appearance, and a certain Oklahoma City Thunder forward didn’t.

Not only is going Dipo headed to Los Angeles to play on Saturday, rumors have it (Dipo seems to think otherwise) that he will also participate in the Slam Dunk Competition on Saturday night. And if that wasn’t enough, second year forward Domantas Sabonis, who was also apart of the Pacers-Thunder trade in July, was selected to play for Team World in the 2018 Rising Stars Challenge on Friday night, The Pacers will have no shortage of inclusion during All-Star weekend. It seems to me that OKC investigators might have a case to re-open?

In all seriousness, there is nothing better than getting to see a player experience the moment of achieving a life-long goal, and being named an NBA all-star for the first time. I think I speak for all of the Pacers fan base when I say no one deserved this more than Victor Oladipo.

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After being drafted No. 2 overall back in 2013 with such a high ceiling, only to be traded twice by teams who couldn’t see the potential in him all the way through, it’s incredible to witness what he’s done for the Pacers. Pacers GM Kevin Pritchard was lambasted all off-season for his trade of Paul George, so I can only imagine how rewarding it is to watch the guys he brought in and believed in, begin to live up to their potential.

The best part to me was just how humble Victor Oladipo was upon hearing the news he was headed to LA for all-star weekend. Whether it was telling the great story of trying to reach his mom after he found out, or sending praise to all the fans and people in Indiana “I’m just happy for the state of Indiana, that I get to represent them,”  it was exactly what you’d expect with someone like VO.

To think that this team was viewed as a one of the worst teams in the league and a potential “tank” team before the season, only to see them sitting with a winning record and in contention for a high playoff seed come April, is mind boggling. But there are no doubts about it, the success of Victor Oladipo and the way he’s carried this team at times this season, has deemed him worthy of the all-star selection.