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They say what's done in the dark will find a way to shine. After how the Indiana Pacers handled Victor Oladipo's time with the team, it seems what Indiana did in the dark is starting to emerge. Oladipo was a guest on Udonis Haslem's OGs Show. The two former teammates spoke about Oladipo's time with the Pacers. Oladipo quickly shut down the rumors of him rejecting a $160 million contract that Indiana offered him and noted that they offered him a much lower contract. Oladipo added that the Pacers traded him after his knee surgery didn't work. Doctors and others told him he was healing correctly from a nasty knee injury, which wasn’t true, and the Pacers knew it.
“I never, ever, got offered $160 million. Maybe one day in the future. [They offered] three years, $80 [million]. It's less than what I had but pretty much about the same. My doctors and everybody was telling me I was getting healthier, even though, unfortunately, my surgery wasn't done correctly.
“I made that decision thinking I was getting better. And then, in my first three or four games in Indy that year, I averaged 20. That's why they traded me. Inside scoop, they knew my sh*t was f**ked up too. … That's pretty much what happened, never got $160 million, I would've took it.”
What happened to Victor Oladipo after the Pacers traded him?
At the time, Oladipo was a two-time All-Star and one of the league's promising young prospects. So, he would have felt justified in holding out for more money than the Pacers were offering him, which would have been a marginal increase in his annual salary.
The Pacers may also have considered his knee injury when offering him a new contract. But in the end, the Pacers made the right call, as harsh as it may have been on Oladipo, trading him to the Rockets as part of the James Harden-Brooklyn Nets deal.
After 20 games with the Rockets, Oladipo was traded to the Heat and signed a $2 million contract with them after his original contract expired. After impressing Miami officials, he signed a two-year, $18 million contract that paid him until 2023.
In April 2023, Oladipo tore his patellar tendon in the Eastern Conference Finals. A few months later, the Heat traded Oladipo to the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Thunder traded Oladipo to Houston before the 2023-24 season started. Before he could even suit up for the Rockets, Oladipo was shipped to the Memphis Grizzlies as part of the Steven Adams trade. Oladipo was waived by Memphis soon after and hasn't been a presence on an NBA roster since.
