Prior to the NBA restarting in the bubble, there were already indications that Victor Oladipo was leaning towards leaving the Indiana Pacers in free agency after the 2020-21 season. Now, it appears he may want out much sooner.
Per Jared Weiss of The Athletic, Victor Oladipo is looking to ‘move on’ from the Pacers this offseason. This is somewhat surprising, as Oladipo went to college at Indiana University and has had some great moments in Indiana with the Pacers as well.
In his first year with the team back in the 2017-18 season, he broke out and made his first NBA All-Star Team, averaging 23.1 points per game. Since then, he’s played 55 games through two seasons due to injury.
After parting ways with their former head coach Nate McMillan, Indiana will have the chance to bring in a coach that Oladipo likes to convince him to stick around. He will make $21 million in the final year of his deal in the 2020-21 season, although he is eligible for extension this offseason.
How those extension negotiations go will be very telling for the Pacers. If it is clear that he has no interest in re-signing, perhaps you do trade him way for assets before he walks away for nothing after the upcoming season.
However, Oladipo’s trade value is the lowest it has been in a while. How much could the Pacers really get for a guy coming off of injury with an expiring contract? If they are forced to move Oladipo, the Pacers would find the most success sending him to a team that Oladipo would commit to re-signing with.
Weiss mentions that a potential trade for Victor Oladipo could be to the Boston Celtics for Gordon Hayward, who also will have one more season under contract if he opts into the final year of his deal, which seems likely.
He also said that Myles Turner may be in the same boat as Oladipo and could be wanting out this offseason. It will be a fascinating next few months for the Indiana Pacers to see how this all unfolds.
