The Indiana Pacers are heading into a no-win situation with Victor Oladipo
Heading into the 2020 NBA offseason, there might not be a player more teams are paying attention to than Victor Oladipo. He’s eligible for an extension this summer and will be entering the final year of his contract with the Indiana Pacers in 2021.
While there have been whispers that he could want out or that the Pacers will shop him (subscription required) this offseason, nothing is certain at this point. At the moment, there’s a very real chance that not even the Pacers know what they’re going to do with Oladipo.
To simplify this all, three potential scenarios could occur this offseason regarding the Pacers and Oladipo.
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In the first scenario, the Pacers offer Oladipo the max extension that he wants and lock him up for the foreseeable future. While that seems like a no-brainer solution, the fact that Oladipo hasn’t looked like an all-star since before his quad injury makes it all more difficult.
Indiana can’t afford to pay a non-max player max money. While Oladipo has been good to the Pacers since they acquired him, Indiana isn’t in the business of overpaying non-stars. That simply won’t happen and that’s been abundantly clear.
I have a hard time believing that the Pacers are simply going to hand over a max extension to Victor Oladipo before he begins to look like his old self again.
A second scenario has the Pacers waiting out giving Oladipo an extension this summer and lets him play out his final season with the club. In this scenario, there are plenty of potential risks for the Pacers. For one, if he does play at an all-star level again and plays his way back into max extension territory, there’s no guarantee that he’ll stay with the Pacers.
He’d be on an expiring contract and would be able to sign a max contract with any team he wishes. With the way the Pacers doubted him in the previous two offseasons, there’s a chance that OIadipo will cease all loyalty to Indiana and get his max extension elsewhere.
The Pacers would have no control over Oladipo after this season and could end up losing him for absolutely nothing during the offseason.
In a third scenario, the Pacers trade Oladipo this summer. The big problem with that is trading Oladipo now is the fact that a trade now now would only return pennies on the dollar. His value is at an all-time low at the moment, considering he hasn’t looked 100 percent after his injury.
It’s quite the unfortunate timing of everything that has the Pacers stuck in this essential no-win situation with Victor Oladipo.
For this to end in a happy ending for both Victor Oladipo and the Indiana Pacers this summer, Indiana would have to bank on him getting back to his all-star level status, and at this point that’s not a sure thing. Should all of that fall in place, however, that’s really the only scenario in which the Pacers would come out with a win. It’s quite a difficult situation for the Indiana Pacers.