Victor Oladipo Is Returning This Month And The East Just Got A Little More Interesting

So this is a pretty big deal. Last year, Oladipo ruptured his quad on January 23rd. It was a devastating blow to a player who was having another sensational season for the Pacers. He had proven to be a true legit #1 option and was having himself an All Star caliber year. Then it happened

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You couldn't help but feel for the guy. Well now we know for certain that Oladipo has a return date of January 29th 2020, basically a full year to the day from when that shit happened. That's a pretty big deal for a number of reasons. First, the Pacers are already pretty damn good. At 23-14 they sit in the 6 spot sure, but are only a game out of the 4 spot. If they can maintain their current level of play there's no reason to think they can't still be in the mix by the end of the month. With all the injuries to TOR and now Embiid fucking up his finger, getting a shot in the arm with All Star level talent could directly impact how the East seeding shakes out.

You could also argue that Oladipo is joining a Pacers team that is better than the one he left. TJ Warren and Malcolm Brogdon have been fantastic offseason signings. Sabonis and Turner are as legit as they come in terms of a frontcourt pairing. This is a team that as of now has a 13th ranked offense and top 10 defense and they are adding a player that is going to help immediately in both of those areas. I'll remind you, before his injury the Pacers were a top 2 defense in the NBA. If he is 100%, who is to say they can't be at that level given the talent on their roster this season? 

The other important part of all this is the timing. Between now and the 29th, the Pacers have just two games against teams that are ahead of them in the standings, the Heat (tonight) and the Sixers (January 13th). Who knows if Embiid plays in that game on Monday. As of now this is how the H2H matchups currenly sit with IND and those ahead of them

BOS: 1-0 advantage IND

MIA: 0-1 advantage MIA

MIL: 0-2 advantage MIL

PHI: 1-1

TOR: 1-0 advantage IND

I think we can all agree that they aren't going to catch MIL unless someone kidnaps Giannis. But from January 29th until the end of the season the face the Celtics twice, Heat twice, Sixers once, and Raptors three times. They have a huge B2B with BOS/MIA in the last week of the season. Having a healthy Oladipo for a majority of those H2H matchups is huge and could absolutely determine who is going to get boned with seeding come the Spring. I think the goal from everyone is to try and avoid MIL for as long as you can, and now if Oladipo looks like his old self you have to consider them in the same tier as any non MIL contender. 

That's the big question though. What will he look like? Will it be like when Gordon Hayward came back after a year and he was hesitant and not aggressive? The mental part of this whole thing will be interesting to see when it comes to Oladipo, because ultimately that's what will determine what the ceiling is of this Pacers team. With all the talk about what teams could add at the trade deadline, I'm not sure any of those 5 other teams are going to be adding a franchise All NBA caliber player. 

If you don't really remember what Oladipo looked like when he was right, well here ya go