As a sign of appreciation and support, the Indiana Pacers decided to hand out Victor Oladipo t-shirts to fans before Monday night's home game against the Golden State Warriors.
The shirts, which read “Together 4 Vic” across the front, were draped over the seats inside Bankers Life Fieldhouse as part of Indiana's “gold out” night.
For their first home game since Victor Oladipo went down with a season-ending injury, the Pacers gave away #Together4Vic for fans to show their support. pic.twitter.com/75RvWlXrQF
— USA TODAY NBA (@usatodaynba) January 29, 2019
On Monday, Pacers staff members donned the shirts as a sign of their support for Oladipo, who went down with a serious knee injury in the first half of last week's game against the Toronto Raptors.
As he hustled down the floor in transition defense, “Dipo,” as he's come to be known, planted his foot. However, just before he could go up to defend the shot, his knee buckled. The former No. 2 overall pick instantly went down in pain and was later taken off the court on a stretcher.
On Monday afternoon, the Pacers announced that Oladipo underwent successful surgery to repair a ruptured quad tendon in his left knee. While there is no official timetable set, the team is expecting him to make a full recovery.
Victor Oladipo underwent successful surgery today to repair a ruptured quad tendon in his right knee. He is expected to make a full recovery. https://t.co/RXMHEM1kpy pic.twitter.com/a6ZtR7G2N7
— Indiana Pacers (@Pacers) January 28, 2019
Three days after suffering his injury, Oladipo sent out a reassuring message to his fans on Instagram.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BtGzLWnDEn3/?utm_source=ig_embed
Oladipo has become a fan-favorite in Indianapolis — for good reason. In his 36 appearances with the Pacers this season, he's racked up averages of 18.8 points on 42.3 percent shooting from the field (34.3 percent from beyond the arc), 5.6 rebounds, 5.2 assists and 1.7 steals in 31.9 minutes per outing.
Hopefully, Oladipo will be back on the floor sooner rather than later. Stay tuned for more updates as they become available.