How the Pacers could approach the trade deadline without Victor Oladipo

Victor Oladipo’s injury changes how the Indiana Pacers look ahead. It also changes what they might do at the trade deadline.

Ah, the trade deadline! Usually, the trade deadline is a quiet time for the Indiana Pacers. They are a team that likes to ride internal development and chemistry to success, and mixing up the roster at the trade deadline negatively impacts that strategy.

This year, though, could be different. Not because of the team’s goals or values changing, but because the circumstances changed. All-Star guard Victor Oladipo‘s season is over, and it is going to be very hard for the Indiana Pacers to meet the playoff success goals they had for this season.

With new aspirations comes a different approach, and while nobody is quite sure what the Pacers new path forward is, some directions make more sense than others. The trade deadline presents an opportunity to attack many of those multiple paths forward.

The Pacers could be buyers at the trade deadline. They could also be sellers. Both of those have merit as good ideas. Doing nothing isn’t a bad idea either. Essentially, any strategy outside of  “blow the whole thing up” has validity to it.

For this exercise, let’s pretend we are the Pacers and with a blank whiteboard behind us. We will use it to list out what the next week leading up to the deadline might look like if the Indiana Pacers go down various paths.

What might the Pacers trade deadline look like without Victor Oladipo? Let’s muse by first looking at what the “sellers” path might look like.