Indiana Pacers: 3 reasons why Victor Oladipo will be an All-Star next season
By Josh Wilson
Victor Oladipo‘s run with the Indiana Pacers this season was somewhat underwhelming. Oladipo had to undergo surgery after a gruesome quad injury in January of 2019 and would be out recovering until January of 2020.
By the time he got back, we wouldn’t know this, but he would only have about a month and a half to get back into the flow of things and get adjusted to a team that looked vastly different than it did the year before.
By the time the shocking hiatus hit the NBA due to COVID-19, Oladipo had logged just 337 minutes in 13 games.
Of course, Oladipo was a sure “no” for the All-Star game this year, not having even played a game by the time All-Star voting was wrapping up. An All-Star in the two seasons prior to this one, there’s reason to believe a healthy VO will make the game again next season. Let’s look at some key reasons why.
Related Story. Ranking each of Oladipo's 13 games this season. light
Victor Oladipo will be back to full health with the Pacers next season
It’s hard to deny that this has been a rough go for Oladipo and the Pacers. Out for over a year due to injury, Oladipo didn’t get to make his debut for the season until late January, which means most of his minutes so far this year were getting back in the flow of things and finding his footing.
When we ranked each of Oladipo’s games this season, very few were in the category of being what we know and love from Oladipo performances.
Oladipo may have a slow start to the season next year since he was never able to get fully acclimated to the game this season. Everyone will come into next year rusty if the season is canceled, a reality that is looking more and more possible, but Oladipo will be coming off of essentially a season and a half without full-force NBA basketball.
Once he gets the initial rust off, though, Oladio will have had a significant amount of time to rest his ailments. He’s proven his worth in the league and established himself as a perennial All-Star when healthy. He’ll get back to that level of health and conditioning in 2020-21.