Indiana Pacers: 5 takeaways from the 2018-19 NBA season

1. A real chance at a playoff run was lost without Victor Oladipo

Despite how well this team has played and what the numbers show, it was hard to imagine this glued-together Pacers team making it past the Boston Celtics in the opening round of the 2019 NBA Playoffs.

Since last year’s first round elimination, it’s been apparent that Oladipo is the lifeblood of this team when the going gets tough. As close as a few games against the Cs were, the star power of Kyrie Irving, Gordon Hayward and Jayson Tatum proved too much to handle, and there were moments the Pacers needed an answer from a star player.

Talk of reaching the NBA Finals hasn’t been in the conversation since 2014 for the Pacers. Since they’re still building the franchise back up, it would be a bit unrealistic to expect even a fully healthy team to make a deep run into May, much less June.

When Oladipo went down, ESPN‘s Adrian Wojnarowski called it “devastating” for the Pacers, despite noting his tremendous work ethic, and questioned whether or not the 26-year-old would return with the same athleticism.

The plus side is that at such a young age, he’s still got a long time left to play for the Pacers regardless of how much more or less athletic he is. His connection to Indiana goes back to his time at Indiana University.

Pacers fans can rest easy, though, knowing that upon his return next season, Dipo’s relentless efforts will be focused toward taking this franchise to the next level.