Who can carry Pacers’ offense in Victor Oladipo’s absence?
By Bryce Fields
The Indiana Pacers have a lot of talent and potential heading into the 2019-20 season. However, with All-Star guard Victor Oladipo out indefinitely, who will be scoring the basketball for the Pacers?
Overall, the Indiana Pacers‘ 2018-19 season was a success. They were one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference for over half of the season and were looking at being the third seed in the East.
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That all changed on Jan. 23 when All-Star Victor Oladipo suffered a season-ending ruptured quadriceps tendon in his right knee. From there, Indiana skidded to the fifth seed and were bounced in the first round by the Boston Celtics.
Where the Pacers really struggled without Oladipo was with scoring. Oladipo averaged a team-high 18.8 points per game last season.
They ended up averaging 108.0 points per game, ranking 22nd in the NBA and dead-last of all playoff teams. The only player to step up offensively for Indiana in his absence was Bojan Bogdanovic, who ended the year averaging 18.0 points per game as Indiana’s primary scorer.
However, now that Bogdanović is a member of the Utah Jazz, who will the Pacers lean on to lead the team in scoring with Oladipo out for the foreseeable future?