Indiana Pacers: Is Damian Lillard’s path the upside of Victor Oladipo?

Can Victor Oladipo be the superstar that takes the Indiana Pacers to the next level of competition like Damian Lillard, or is he just a really good player?

While most weren’t surprised to see the Golden State Warriors sweep the Portland Trail Blazers en route to their fifth consecutive NBA Finals appearance, perhaps the biggest new takeaway of the series is the seemingly indisputable fact that Damian Lillard, for all he is worth in the regular season, might not be good enough to lead a championship team.

Sure, not many thought Portland was going to win the ‘chip this year, and a Western Conference Finals appearance is nothing to sneeze at. But the people who did believe in the Blazers, and for good cause, might be the same type of people who believed (and still believe) in the potential of the Indiana Pacers.

Must a superstar in today’s age be a positional anomaly or in some way a “freak”? This question cannot be avoided by any front office, no matter how small of a market or how old school and traditional they might be in theory.

This is where assessing Victor Oladipo becomes critical. In 36 games this season, a then 26-year-old Oladipo averaged 18.8 points, 5.6 rebounds, 5.2 assists and 1.7 steals per game en route to an All-Star selection.

Comparatively, a nearly 29-year-old Damian Lillard averaged 25.8 points, 6.9 assists, 4.6 rebounds, and 1.1 steals per game over the course of the regular season this year, also with an All-Star appearance.

If Lillard is the direction that Oladipo is heading, that’s nothing to be upset about rostering if you’re the Indiana Pacers.

What is concerning though, is that every successful team in this day and age has something outside of a traditional, position-playing out-performer.

Victor Oladipo is an All-Star of the 1990s — great motor, athletic, scores, passes and plays excellent defense. But the superstars today, the ones who are leading teams to deep playoff runs, are all in some way freakish. And in that sense, Oladipo’s upside is perhaps a better version of Lillard.

Look at the top players in today’s league: Nikola Jokic’s uncanny point guard skills, Kawhi Leonard’s ridiculously large and dexterous hands, Stephen Curry’s historic 3-ball, Kevin Durant’s impossible-to-guard jumper, or how about just Giannis Antetokounmpo and everything about him?

Whether it’s Ben Simmons‘ size for a point guard or James Harden’s historical and unfair scoring ability, each of the true superstars possess something that seems impossible.

When making decisions this summer, the Pacers might be well served in considering that inconvenient truth (especially if the Warriors are able to steal Thaddeus Young in order to fill in for the aging Andre Iguodala). After all, the Pacers have a large portion of their roster eligible to walk this summer in free agency, including Bojan Bogdanovic, Darren Collison, Wesley Matthews and Cory Joseph.

Of course, they could also just keep at the old school team-game, and prove everyone wrong. Perhaps the NBA needs a dose of that, not unlike the sobering Detroit Pistons’ 2004 championship-winning squad.

Not many believed in that team either. But if Indiana has one thing, it’s the ability to pull basketball Hoosier magic out of a hat. As is the case with Lillard, the key to putting a legitimate contender around Oladipo will be avoiding ill-advised splurges in free agency and finding the right, complementary talent to reach the next level.