Indiana Pacers: Evaluating a Knicks trade for Victor Oladipo

Evaluating a speculation-based proposed trade for Pacers guard Victor Oladipo

As the year winds down and finishes — albeit later than usual — more eyes will turn to Indiana Pacers guard Victor Oladipo.

The seventh-year guard out of Indiana University is in a peculiar place with the Pacers. After a Most Improved Player of the Year-winning season in 2018 and his first All-Star game, Oladipo was off to a hot start in the 2018-19 season. Good enough to get voted into his second All-Star game, Oladipo, unfortunately, ruptured his quad in late January.

Oladipo’s recovery would take just over a year, and he would return to play in January of 2019. Between the All-Star break and then the sudden pause in play due to the global pandemic, Oladipo only saw 13 games.

In between flashes of brilliance, Oladipo was mostly just regaining his footing and finding his way in the NBA once again. He was with a new-look team and over a year removed from full-speed basketball. His performances weren’t incredible, but they were in the vein of what was expected.

Some speculate Oladipo may be available in 2021 as an unrestricted free agent when his current contract is slated to expire. There have been rumors that teams such as the Knicks may even attempt to trade for Oladipo in the final year of his deal. Supposedly the Heat have interest as well.

The Pacers ultimately can call all of this off and negotiate an extension with Oladipo this summer, should he be willing. Given Oladipo’s connection to the Indiana community and how the team has stood by him during his recovery, it seems as though it’s a likely scenario that he ends up back in Indiana, but not necessarily a foregone conclusion.

Ian Begley of SNY suggested that the Knicks are expected to be aggressive in trade negotiations should a player of Oladipo’s caliber become available.

A proposed Knicks-Pacers trade centered on Victor Oladipo

Orestis Rantis at HoopsHabit suggested a trade for the Knicks centered on Oladipo. Here’s what it shapes out to be:

Here’s Rantis’s reasoning for why Indiana might agree to such a deal.

"“Victor Oladipo just suffered a major injury. The Pacers still have a number of solid pieces to build around, like Domantas Sabonis, Myles Turner and Malcolm Brogdon. As a result, isn’t it wiser to trade him away while his trade value is still high?”"

Dennis Smith Jr. has had a rough ride. Changing scenery last year, he hasn’t been afforded a substantial enough role to make a very big impact on a Knicks team that doesn’t inspire much confidence all-around. One could chalk up his uninspiring stats this year to a role issue more than anything else.

Kevin Knox took a major step back in his sophomore season, again, perhaps due to a major cut in minutes. Per 36 minutes his counting stats still stepped back.

A first-round pick would surely help the Pacers build, but draft picks can be shots in the dark. There’s even less guarantee with a draft pick than there is with Oladipo’s future.

It’s going to take a lot more for the Indiana Pacers to part with Victor Oladipo

Victor Oladipo, regardless of the questions surrounding his health, is the ideal leader for the Indiana Pacers moving forward. He fits the archetype of leadership, quality two-way basketball, and star power the Pacers want and need.

Rantis is right, it does make some sense to trade Oladipo while his value is still high. Oladipo is not a tier-1 superstar like Anthony Davis, but the Pacers very well could have an AD situation on their hands if Oladipo expresses that he won’t be re-signing.

The thing is though, that’s not the case. All signs point to Oladipo re-signing with the team and wanting to be in Indiana long-term.

And the reality, too, is Indianapolis is a small-market team. They aren’t afforded the luxury of treating player contracts like chess pieces and just “trading while the value is high.” It’s a practice that likely wouldn’t be appreciated by Oladipo’s agent (unless he requests a trade, which is unlikely) and will reflect them not putting their player’s needs and desires first.

As a small market team, when you land a star, you don’t let go. Let’s not forget, too, Oladipo was brought in as a result of the last star player who requested out of Indiana.

The Pacers stand more to gain by standing by Oladipo and his recovery and post-injury development. Unless a major star is the product of an Oladipo trade — which is unlikely — we need to pump the brakes on trades.