Victor Oladipo is fully confident that he'll come back better than ever, even if the Indiana Pacers have yet to give a timetable for his return.
“When I say I'm coming back better than ever, I'm not just saying that because it sounds good. I truly believe that,” Oladipo said during Friday's initial press conference, according to Forbes' Shane Young.
The 27-year-old thrived in his first season with the Pacers after being traded from the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Paul George deal, averaging 23.1 points, 5.2 rebounds, 4.3 assists, and a league-leading 2.4 steals en route to his first All-Star nod. Yet his second season in Indy was a slight regression from his first, taking a dip in scoring (18.8 points) while also seeing a considerable 5% drop in his field goal percentage efficiency.
Oladipo is an excellent two-way talent at the shooting guard position, but his game largely revolves around athleticism, which has lined up plenty of skeptics when it comes to his return to the court.
The Indiana product tore his quad tendon in January, and while his expected timeline of recovery varied from six-to-nine months, the Pacers haven't provided a revised of more accurate timeline for his return, which stands as a mild concern.
There's reason to believe that a player that relies on his athleticism won't have an immediate bounce back into All-Star form as Oladipo likely expects. The young guard has looked good in his workouts, but there's a lot more that goes into that transferring into the NBA hardwood.
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