Victor Oladipo went down Wednesday night with what the Pacers reportedly fear is a season-ending right knee injury.
Oladipo on his injury: "I just slipped and knew it was serious" #Pacers
— J. Michael (@ThisIsJMichael) January 24, 2019
The team announced that the All-Star guard will undergo an MRI today to determine the severity of the injury.
Preliminary exam has left Pacers with fear that Victor Oladipo has suffered a season-ending knee injury that will require surgery, league sources tell ESPN. He will undergo an MRI on Thursday.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) January 24, 2019
Indiana held off the visiting Toronto Raptors 110-106 despite losing their leading scorer.
Victor Oladipo's 'serious' knee injury overshadows Pacers' win over Raptors https://t.co/UAzGKC1Ix9
— IndyStar Sports (@IndyStarSports) January 24, 2019
Per the Indy Star:
“We just tried to stick to stick together is one of the biggest things,” said [Thad] Young, who scored 12 of his points in the fourth quarter. “We always want to stick together through thick and thin. We know with Vic going down it was definitely going to be tough but we want to keep fighting for him.”
Oladipo had insisted he hadn’t been playing injured after he appeared to take a step back since returning from an 11-game absence with a sore right knee. He tied a season-high 36 points in the first game of 2019 but hadn’t looked the same since.
“He comes in with a positive attitude and doesn’t complain,” [Domantas] Sabonis said. “He’s the first one at practice doing every drill. We never knew.”
Still, teammates were shocked to see him in agony on the court. To a person, they thought Oladipo was OK, too, even as he struggled with his jump shot to start 2019.
“I think it was fine,” [Myles] Turner said of Oladipo’s knee leading up to Wednesday. “He’s played every day in practice. He didn’t look that bad to me whatsoever. He missed a couple shots here and there but I don’t think it had to do anything with his knee.”
