Indiana Pacers: Did the team quit on Victor Oladipo?

In a post-game interview on TNT, Ernie Johnson asked former Indiana Pacers guard Victor Oladipo about turning the page from Indiana to Houston, when his answer included that he feels like people keep quitting on him.

I think I can speak for a lot of Pacers fans in saying that we are going to miss Oladipo and he didn’t want to be here so we got a great return for him, but his comments may change how we feel. The trade was very surprising but it also wasn’t, if that makes sense.

The writing was on the wall that Oladipo and the Pacers were set to split up. A star player talking down on the Pacers after leaving seems awfully familiar but I hope it doesn’t get as bad as Mr. Paul George. Let’s go throughout his tenure in Indiana to see where exactly we quit on him.

Newsflash, apparently the Indiana Pacers quit on Victor Oladipo

2017-18 season:

Starting Lineup: Darren Collison, Victor Oladipo, Bojan Bogdanovic, Thaddeus Young, Myles Turner

Record: 48-34; First-round playoff loss 4-3

This season the Pacers led by Victor Oladipo caught the NBA by surprise after being predicted to be at the bottom of the standings. Victor Oladipo became the go-to guy on the team, leading to his first All-Star selection. The season ends by taking Lebron and the Cavs to a seven-game series in the first round. It looked like this Pacers team was going to be a team to look out for in the years coming.

2018-2019 season:

Starting Lineup: Darren Collison, Victor Oladipo, Bojan Bogdanovic, Thaddeus Young, Myles Turner

Record: 48-34; First-round playoff loss 4-0

That season, the Pacers ran it back and were looking good to start the season led by Victor Oladipo. Although Victor wasn’t playing at the same level from the year previous he still played at an All-Star level, ultimately getting the nod again that season, his second All-Star appearance.

He didn’t get to play in that game because his season was brought to an end due to the ruptured quad tendon injury suffered against the Toronto Raptors. The season ended with a sweep at the hand of the Boston Celtics in a very forgettable first-round series. An offseason of change was now on its way.

2019-2020 season:

Starting Lineup: Malcolm Brogdon, Jeremy Lamb/Victor Oladipo, T.J. Warren, Domantas Sabonis, Myles Turner

When I said an offseason of change was on its way, I meant it. The Pacers totally retooled the roster allowing for the team to win games while Oladipo was still out with his injury but then have an opening in the starting lineup for him when he recovered. This roster looked very good in the shortened NBA season and looked like they could make some noise in the playoffs after adding Victor Oladipo during the season, January 29th, 2020, to be exact.

What wasn’t there to love about the team from Oladipo’s perspective? Fewer touches? Bad coaching? Slight nitpicky stuff if you ask me. The Pacers ended this season down in the Orlando bubble where they saw great regular-season success led by T.J. Warren but got swept in the playoffs by the Miami Heat. Oladipo just didn’t look like himself and the big man Domantas Sabonis was injured, so just bad luck on our part.

2020-2021 offseason:

We aren’t going to take a look at this season because I think any problems or important things to look at happened before the season started, besides the trade obviously. During the offseason, rumors started flying out of the wazoo pointing out that Victor Oladipo no longer wants to be in Indiana. We aren’t going to go into detail on all of those reports, besides the fact that he didn’t control the rumors because “he couldn’t”.

During this time, Nate Bjorkgren is brought into the mix and from interviews and reports it seems like he and Oladipo become best friends and that Vic was going to stay long-term and we can all rejoice. Well, that was wrong. Later reports say that Oladipo turned down a $25-million extension which leads everyone to believe he wants out, but he technically never said he wanted out, which people are going to get hung up on and defend Oladipo because of it. Time will tell as it always does and more information comes out.

Looking back at all that I fail to see where the Indiana Pacers exactly “quit” on Victor Oladipo. Building great rosters around him, providing support during his recovery from injury, an otherworldly amount of support when he returned to play, and a generous contract extension offer. People can have differing opinions on this situation but I put my stance out there. I’ll continue to have love for Oladipo unless the Paul George-esque comments start being hurled our way.