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The Indiana Pacers were terribly hard done on Wednesday night, as their main man, Victor Oladipo, went down with what could end up being a season-ending knee injury.
However, it appears that the team has more bad news coming to them, as they are no longer eligible to apply for a Disabled Player Exception in the wake of Oladipo's injury.
The deadline to apply for the Disabled Player Exception expired on Jan. 15. If Victor Oladipo is indeed lost for the season, Indiana would not receive salary relief. The exception would have been worth $8.6M.
— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) January 24, 2019
The Pacers missed out on the deadline by a little over a week, and aside from the fact that it looks like they will be losing their cornerstone star for the remainder of the season, the terrible timing of the injury will also make them lose out on close to $9 million. That's definitely a double whammy for the organization.
To be clear, there is no confirmation yet on the severity of Oladipo's injury, and the team has yet to announce if the 26-year-old's season is indeed done. However, based on how it looked, it would not be surprising at all if the next time we see the All-Star guard take the court is sometime in the 2019-20 season.
The Pacers will be hard-pressed to find a replacement for Oladipo and what he brings to the table on both ends of the court. On Tuesday, it was veteran forward Thaddeus Young who stepped up in Oladipo's stead, with the 30-year-old leading the charge for the team.
In a game where Oladipo went down after just 10 minutes of action, it was Young (23 points, 15 rebounds) who led the Pacers to a 110-106 victory against the Toronto Raptors.
The team will likely need to take a committee approach in trying to fill the void left by Oladipo, as the Pacers look to hold on to the third spot in the East with a 32-15 record.
