Victor Oladipo: Having the greatest Indiana Pacers season ever?
The Indiana Pacers have a storied basketball tradition, and Victor Oladipo is adding another chapter this year. Here’s a look at where his season stacks up.
If we’re talking about the Indiana Pacers‘ entire history, technically, the answer to whether Victor Oladipo‘s 2017-18 season has a chance to be the best ever is a hard “no.”
In 1974-75, a 24-year-old George McGinnis became the first and only Pacers player to win MVP. He led the ABA in scoring at 29.8 points per game while hauling down 14.3 rebounds, dishing out 6.3 assists and swiping 2.6 steals a night.
Aided by the fact that the NBA didn’t start recording steals as an official statistic until the 1973-74 season, McGinnis is the only player in history to put up those numbers over the course of a single campaign, according to Basketball-Reference.
The reason you don’t hear much about that season or even McGinnis himself when basketball history is discussed is because he did his best work – including that year – in the ABA. That summer, McGinnis made the jump to the NBA. One year later, the Pacers followed him.
Since becoming a member of the senior league, Indiana has had several really, really good seasons from a bunch of players, but never a transcendent one like Big George threw up over 40 years ago. As a result, what we’re witnessing right now from Pacers All-Star Victor Oladipo is in the conversation for the greatest season in the history of Indiana Pacers basketball.
Heading into the break, Oladipo is putting up All NBA-caliber numbers for a Pacers squad securely in the thick of the East playoff race. I recently went through Vic’s season in depth here, and why he needs to be considered a legitimate MVP candidate. In short, he’s the only player in the NBA averaging at least 24 points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals per game, and is doing so while sporting a usage rate over 30 and an ultra-efficient 58.9 true shooting percentage.
He’s balling his brains out…but is it the greatest season in Pacers history?
Before we get to the other contenders, we need an honorable mention shoutout to Danny Granger (remember him?), who put up 25 points, five boards, and a steal and a block a night in 2008-09, all while shooting 40 percent from deep on over six attempts per game. Only Paul Pierce in 2001-02 and Kevin Durant this season ever had comparable years.
Unfortunately, Granger missed 11 games that season with a torn tendon in his foot and four other games due to illness. The Pacers were an uninspiring 27-40 in the games he did play, so it seems fair that a prerequisite for the greatest Indiana Pacers season ever be a .500 record, at the very least.
With that being said, here’s a look at the top contenders.