Oftentimes the NBA's best players are those on the biggest stage. LeBron James on the Los Angeles Lakers. Stephen Curry on the Golden State Warriors. Kawhi Leonard on the Toronto Raptors. These are all elite superstar players in huge markets.
However, when there's a really great player on a small market team, they aren't given the same media coverage nationally. This causes the common fan to not even realize the full talent of players who play in Milwaukee, Charlotte, New Orleans, Utah, etc.
That's the blessing and the curse of playing for a big market. Sure, being on the New York Knicks and playing 40 plus games in Madison Square Garden is wonderful. But the media is hounding your every move. In the same sentiment, someone who plays for the Milwaukee Bucks hardly gets the same paparazzi treatment from the local reporters.
For Indiana Pacers guard Victor Oladipo, he embraces the small market feel. Because the loyalty of his Indiana fans, they love him even more.
Indiana is a basketball state. Nearly everyone is an Indiana University fan, the Hoosiers being a moniker synonymous just with the state itself.
When the Pacers front office traded away their star player in Paul George for Domantas Sabonis and Victor Oladipo, it was a homecoming for Victor. He would be coming home to the state where he went to college.
In 2009, the local Marylander was asked why he went to Indiana over colleges like Notre Dame, Maryland, and Xavier. These were all very prestigious schools with great basketball programs. What made him choose such an antiquated basketball program over some of the best ranked teams in the country?
When Alex Bozich of Inside the Hall asked the three-star recruit why he choose Indiana, he had some very wise words to offer:
“It’s beautiful. It’s like a basketball atmosphere everywhere you go. I drove around… and every second we were waving at someone. It’s a basketball town. That’s perfect.”
Indiana has embraced him ever since. Their collegiate and professional fans see that he plays with the same kind of ferocity and passion that the fans have for the game of basketball itself. They see a little bit of him in them.
Victor Oladipo is not only underrated but misunderstood. Outcasted. He was drafted second overall by the Orlando Magic in 2014. Only a few years later he was a part of the deal that sent Serge Ibaka to the Magic and Oladpio to the Thunder. And then the next season, after not meshing with Thunder star Russell Westbrook, he was dealt again to the Pacers. Back to where it all started.
And that's when it finally clicked for Oladpio.
He made his first all-star team. Averaged 23 points per game, 6.3 rebounds and 5.4 assists per game while shooting 47.7 percent from the field and 37.1 percent from beyond the arc. Not only was he playing at an all-defensive level, but the offensive load he was able to carry at the same time was nothing short of remarkable.
The Pacers ended up going 48-34 on the season. Everything seemed to click under second-year coach Nate McMillan.
The expectations going into the year were extremely low. Without their lone star Paul George, many assumed the Pacers wouldn't even make the postseason. At best, Myles Turner would have a breakout season and they'd be a lottery team. Instead, Victor Oladipo took the entire state by storm.
His usage percentage hit a career-high 31 percent, his first opportunity to run a team himself. He averaged 1.15 points per shot attempt, which ranked in the 83rd percentile among wing players. His assist percentage was over 20 percent as well, which ranked in the 93rd percentile. He was shooting 67 percent at the rim.
When he was on the court, the Pacers had a +14.4 differential. Simply, he had proven himself to be an efficient scorer, playmaker and lockdown defender. All in one season.
Oladipo is underrated because he's not on a team that even is on national television. In the last two years that he's been on the team, the NBA has scheduled 13 national TV games for the Pacers. Only 13. Fans hardly have the opportunity to even see Oladipo in action.
Victor Oladipo doesn't grace the leader boards for the most points per game. Or the highest shooting percentages. Or the most assists. His ability to be a solid two-way player would leave him be a fantastic number two or three option on a championship winning team.
Oladipo is underrated because everyone doubted him. Nobody expected him to step into Paul George's shoes and lead the Pacers. Nobody expected him to suddenly be an all-star. Nobody expected him to embrace his own culpability, his own misgivings. He's done more than step into those shoes – he's outgrown them.
He doesn't need the spotlight. He's great where he finally feels settled and feels comfortable. For the price tag of being underrated, Oladipo has bought freedom. To play within himself, and to realize who he can actually be. Somewhere he calls home.
Oladipo wrote in his Players Tribune last season:
“I texted Doma (Sabonis) what I knew was true:
I promise, if you win here in Indiana, they’ll embrace you like no other.
I felt a little better right away. I called my mom back and told her everything was going to be all right. I really believed it, too. I couldn’t have told you exactly how it was gonna work out or how we’d get there, but I knew. I just knew. Because I knew that not every trade is the same, just like not every state is the same. And I knew this wasn’t just any trade. It was the Pacers. It was Indiana, and I knew Indiana. I wasn’t going to just another team. I was coming home.”
Oladipo has found a home in Indiana. He loves the fans, the organization and the culture surrounding it. The hometown fans love him back.
It won't be long before everyone takes note of Oladipo. Though he may be underrated and misunderstood, he isn't unloved by Pacers fans.
Follow Us
Subscribe