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Victor Oladipo has turned the Indiana Pacers season around last season with a breakout year that saw him become an All-Star for the first time in his career.
He's about to do it again this season, only this time, it doesn't look good.
The Pacers announced Wednesday evening that Oladipo had suffered a “serious” right knee injury during the team's 110-106 home win over the Toronto Raptors. The 26-year-old shooting guard was stretchered off the court after after suffering what the franchise “fear” to be a season-ending knee injury.
MRI results are scheduled to come out tomorrow.
This will be a devastating blow to the team's hopes of keeping the third spot in the Eastern Conference standings, as they will be missing Oladipo's 18.8 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 5.2 assists per game production.
If the worst case happens and Dipo is indeed out for the remainder of the season, will the Pacers remain competitive? Who will be stepping up in his absence?
Well, Oladipo has already missed 11 games earlier this season. During that span, several Pacers players contributed to fill the void he left.
Pacers player stats from the 11-game sample when Vic was out earlier this year.
Tyreke had a rough run, making just 34.5% from the field. pic.twitter.com/jZ1OrSH78k
— Michael Gallagher (@MikeSGallagher) January 24, 2019
During that 11-game stretch, six Pacers players averaged double digits in terms of scoring, led by Bojan Bogdanovic's 19.4 points, followed by Domantas Sabonis' 14.7 and Myles Turner's 13.7 markers. In addition, four of those six players shot at least 50% from the field. Only Tyreke Evans (34 percent from the field, 31 percent from deep) has struggled to shoot the ball during that span.
The Pacers won seven of those 11 games.
With Oladipo likely out, the Pacers will need production from literally the entire roster if they want to keep their momentum going. Sure they will be without their star player, but based on the statistics above, Indiana can still be a competitive team.
he continuous development of Turner, Sabonis, and the rest of the young players in the team will be key to the Pacers' success from this point forward.
Still, everyone hopes for Dipo's immediate recovery.
