Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images
Victor Oladipo made his season debut Wednesday night, and upon checking in for the first time in over a year, the home crowd gave him the expected acknowledgment.
Victor Oladipo last played on Jan. 23, 2019, when he suffered a torn quad tendon in his right knee. The Indiana Pacers have stayed afloat without him during his extended absence, making the playoffs as the No. 5 seed last year and sporting a 30-17 record (sixth in the East) entering Wednesday night’s game against Chicago Bulls.
A couple of weeks ago, Oladipo told Stadium’s Shams Charania he was targeting Wednesday night for his season debut. That plan remained on track, even with the expectation he’d come off the bench and an announced limit of 24 minutes in his 2019-20 debut. Some type of minutes restriction will probably continue for a little while, due to the pure severity of Oladipo’s injury, but the Pacers indeed got their best player back in the fold against the Bulls.
Oladipo entered the game with just over four minutes to go in the first quarter. The reaction from the home crowd was just as rousing as would be expected.
Oladipo registered an assist pretty quickly after taking the floor, and his first bucket followed before the end of the opening quarter.
Oladipo finished the first half, as Indiana had a 55-51 lead, with four points (1-for-5 from the floor, 0-for-4 from 3-point range), three assists, one rebound, one turnover and a minus-6 plus/minus in 10 minutes of action. His results won’t be as important as shaking some rust off, and coming out of the game unscathed in regard to any setbacks with his knee.
The Pacers are already a pretty good team, and now they have Oladipo back to add an extra element they were surviving without. Roles will change with a star player back, but Indiana has essentially made a notable addition as the trade deadline gets close without having to part with any assets.