Victor Oladipo ranked 20th on SI’s Top 100 List

After ranking 77th on the Sports Illustrated Top 100 List last season, Indiana Pacers guard Victor Oladipo moved up to 20th this season. Was the ranking fair?

Entering last season, expectations were not too high for newly-acquired Indiana Pacers guard Victor Oladipo. After spending three years as the lead man for the Magic, he played sidekick to Russell Westbrook with the Thunder.

Oladipo struggled to play that role. He had a fine year, but it wasn’t anything close to special. He was traded to the Pacers for Paul George and became “the guy” once again. Before he had a chance to take the reigns in Indiana, Sports Illustrated ranked him as the 77th best player in the NBA — and for good reason.

"Upon arriving in Oklahoma City by trade last summer, the 25-year-old guard seemed poised to play the Robin role and step forward as a lead playmaker when the 2017 MVP went to the bench. But the anticipated breakthrough never materialized, as Oladipo’s game mirrored his good-but-not-great showing during his first three years in Orlando. Then, in his first trip to the playoffs, Oladipo’s shot abandoned him and he proved to be only a bit player."

The author of that paragraph, Ben Golliver, had fair reasoning for the ranking. Oladipo hadn’t proved much at that point in his career. He looked more like a third banana than a star capable of leading a team into the postseason.

That’s exactly what he became, however.

Victor Oladipo’s ascension has been well documented through the past 10 or so months. He made a 7.2-point jump from his season in Oklahoma City and also averaged career-highs in rebounds, assists, steals and shooting percentages (from the field and three). He won the league’s Most Improved Player Award and made the All-NBA third team and All-Defense first team.

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Thanks to this drastic improvement, Oladipo also made a jump on SI’s Top 100 list — moving up 57 spots to 20th.

Golliver wrote-up this ranking as well and again had good reasoning for his ranking. As incredible as Oladipo was last season, it was just one season. While it is nice to be optimistic and believe in Oladipo’s desire to improve, it isn’t always that easy. Regression happens. Maybe Oladipo regressed to what he was supposed to be doing last season, which is one of the league’s best players. Maybe he was always meant to be this good. We just don’t know yet.

With that being said, last season’s version of Oladipo was absolutely better than what the 20th best player in the league was — whomever that may be.

The NBA has so much talent, though, and the pool deepens every season. For Oladipo to move up or even retain his placing, he is going to have to maintain last season’s play and perhaps even improve upon it.

Whether you are OK with the ranking or not, be thankful to have this kind of talent on the Indiana Pacers. Oladipo may be better than Sports Illustrated thinks, just as he was last year. Just let him prove it.