Victor Oladipo: Having the greatest Indiana Pacers season ever?

Paul George, 2013-14

Perhaps it’s fitting that the competition for “Greatest Season in Pacers History” comes down to Victor Oladipo and the man he was traded for.

Looking back over Paul George’s Indiana career, there really aren’t that many eye-popping seasons to chose from. In 2012-13, when Indiana came out of nowhere to push the Miami Heat to seven games in the Eastern Conference Finals, George made his first All-Star team but did so averaging a modest 17.4 points per game. His 23.5 usage rate and 53.1 true shooting percentage were nothing to write home about.

More from Hoops Habit

• The 5 most dominant NBA players who never won a championship
• 7 Players the Miami Heat might replace Herro with by the trade deadline
• Meet Cooper Flagg: The best American prospect since LeBron James
• Are the Miami Heat laying the groundwork for their next super team?
• Sophomore Jump: 5 second-year NBA players bound to breakout

When the Pacers got off to a 33-7 start in 2013-14, George was kind-of-legitimately-but-not-really-legitimately in the MVP discussion with LeBron James and Kevin Durant. They went 23-19 the rest of the way, ending any awards talk, but George’s overall resume was still stellar. He was named to his the All-NBA Third Team, made First Team All-Defense, and bumped his true shooting percentage and usage rate to 55.5 percent and 28.3, respectively.

Following his horrific broken leg during a Team USA game that summer, George returned to form over his last two seasons in blue and gold. In both 2015-16 and 2016-17, PG-13 put up over 23 a game and did a little bit of everything for a nondescript Pacers team that petered out in the first round of the playoffs each year. Of the two, his last season in Indiana was probably his best, what with a career high 58.7 true shooting percentage to go with a 28.9 usage rate.

Still, there was always the sense that he was playing at 85 percent of max capacity after he returned from that devastating injury. He’d turn up the dial when he needed to, but it feels wrong to attribute the best season of Pacers basketball to a player who wasn’t going full tilt. The fact that George — the most gifted two-way wing in the league outside of a healthy Kawhi Leonard — was left off of the All-Defensive teams last season says all you need to know about the consistency of his effort.

So that leaves us with George’s 2013-14 campaign as the top competition for what Oladipo is doing right now. Side by side, it’s tight:

• George: 21.7 PPG, 6.8 RPG, 3.5 APG, 1.9 SPG, 0.3 BPG, .424/.364/.864 shooting, 20.1 PER, 55.5 TS%, 28.3 USG%
• Oladipo: 24.4 PPG, 5.3 RPG, 4.1 APG, 2.1 SPG, 0.8 BPG, .484/.381/.810 shooting, 23.8 PER, 58.9 TS%, 30.5 USG%

Throw in George’s All-Defensive Second Team appearance and it’s a virtual tie. Time for a sudden death physical challenge.

During the 2013-14 season, Paul George’s on/off stats were solid, but not great. The Pacers were 6.4 points per 100 possessions better with him on the floor, and just 0.3 in the green when he was off.

Without Oladipo this season, Indiana becomes the Coyote with an Acme anvil tied around his waist. With him on the court, the Pacers are 7.3 points per 100 possessions better than their opponents, which would rank fourth in the NBA. When Oladipo sits, Indiana plummets to a -7.5, a worse number than all but the cellar-dwelling Sacramento Kings and Phoenix Suns.

The discrepancy pushes Vic over the edge. If he keeps up this pace, he’s the official owner of the championship belt.

Next: The 50 greatest NBA players of all time (updated, 2016-17)

It promises to be just the first of his many accomplishments in an Indiana Pacers uniform.