Indiana Pacers: The double-edged sword of an All-Star selection for Victor Oladipo

Victor Oladipo may have played like an All-Star in the first half of the season, but the nature of the NBA All-Star selection process may preclude him anyway.

With the NBA All-Star voting deadline upon us, stats alone make Indiana Pacers guard Victor Oladipo’s case for a first-time selection nearly rock solid. Over the course of 39 games this season, the Indiana University product has averaged a gaudy 24.3 points, 5.2 rebounds and 4.0 dimes per game. In addition, the stud is boasting defensive stats with averages of 2.0 steals and 0.9 blocks per game.

Not sold yet?

His turnovers are proportionally low at 2.8 per game and his shooting percentages are way up, including a career-best 48.9 field goal percentage and a career-high 41.6 percent from deep. He has done everything short of getting your dinner on the table this evening.

So why would anyone question his All-Star case at this point? Well, to be real, unfortunately he is about as much of a shoo-in as Hillary Clinton was in the 2016 Presidential election.

So it goes, politics will make the simplest equation look like advanced trigonometry, and the NBA landscape is no exception.

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Victor Oladipo is likely going to end up in the top 12 Eastern Conference vote getters, a technical nod that he should be an All-Star. But coaches may feel compelled to give votes to less obvious guards.

What if they’re more taken with the seamless transition of rookie Ben Simmons and the Philadelphia 76ers impressive strides forward?

Couldn’t Bradley Beal be seen as ready as ever to get his first All-Star selection? Is there a better comparison to Victor Oladipo even? The two could be almost indistinguishable in their bids for their All-Star selections.

Although these scenarios aren’t probable, they are very likely game-time decisions.

But let’s just say Indiana Pacers fans get a reason to watch the All-Star game this year despite Paul George’s departure. With the new formats for All Star selection, strangely enough, an All-Star selection for Victor Oladipo could likely have a great impact on his performance moving forward.

For instance, in the new middle-school playground draft style in which captains select their own teams (as if LeBron James needed more entitlement), Victor Oladipo runs the risk of being selected last.

Ouch!

In this scenario, his performance matters a lot. If he plays really well, he will be motivated to keep proving people wrong. But, if he barely plays or plays poorly, it may wind up being an overwhelmingly mediocre experience. Pretty ironic.

Also, given that rosters are freely structured, there is no reason to think he couldn’t get buried behind other top reserves that will eat up his opportunity to shine, especially if it’s a close game.

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So the end game is this: a selection is likely, and a decent performance is also likely.  But, as was the case heading into the 2017-18 NBA season, Indiana Pacers’ expectations should be tempered for their likely All-Star.