Following what was another lackluster campaign for the Indiana Pacers, 6-foot-4 shooting guard Victor Oladipo has been linked to a move away from his current team. According to a source familiar with the situation, though, Oladipo's inability to fully recover from a quad injury he sustained last year is reminiscent to the situation of Isaiah Thomas.
With the Golden State Warriors rumored to be interested in the services of the Pacers star, NBC Sports' resident insider, Tom Haberstroh wouldn't exactly recommend the same:
“I would stay very far away from this situation,” Haberstroh said last week, via Drew Shiller of NBC Sports (h/t Orlando Silva of Fadeaway World). “Victor Oladipo is much closer to Isaiah Thomas 2.0 than the Victor Oladipo of old.
“After that really bad quad injury, I haven’t seen (a player) that would command anything that the Warriors should give up in a trade for a guy who is looking at a contract year to prove that he can be a front-line scorer.”
That's not a good look for Oladipo, who himself averaged 14.5 points (on 39.4 percent shooting), 3.9 rebounds, and 2.9 assists in 19 games played for the Pacers this season.
According to Habertroh, Oladipo's current situation reminds him of Thomas' fall from grace while with the Boston Celtics. Once an MVP contender who led the C's to a memorable postseason run, everything came crashing down for Thomas after sustaining and failing to recover completely from a lingering hip issue.
Thomas plied his trade with the Washington Wizards last season in another attempt to revive his faltering career. The Wizards eventually traded him to the Los Angeles Clippers in February, and L.A. opted to waive his services not long after.
He has since been without a team, and for Oladipo's sake, we hope that his career path takes a different trajectory.
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