10 most impactful moments from the 2017-18 NBA season
By Luke Askew
9. The rise of Victor Oladipo
In the NBA, player development isn’t a rare thing to see. This development is often within the first few years of a player’s career as he gets used to being in the league and starts tailoring his individual game for the big show.
Victor Oladipo decided to go against almost everything we basketball fans know.
After being traded twice, in his fifth year in the league, Oladipo made a cataclysmic rise to stardom.
When the Pacers traded Paul George to the Oklahoma City Thunder in exchange for Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis, most people thought the Pacers were setting up for a few years of tanking and an extreme rebuild. I think it’s safe to say that most people assumed they would be among the five worst teams in the NBA.
Oladipo had no such vision.
Instead, he averaged an impressive 23.1 points, 5.2 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 2.4 steals per game while shooting 47.7 percent from the field and 37.1 percent from 3-point range.
Oladipo earned his first All-Star game appearance and also lead the Pacers to the fifth seed in the East, which eventually led to a Game 7 loss to LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round.
The result of that series really didn’t matter. The Pacers seemingly found their franchise player after trading away the guy they thought was their franchise player.