On Wednesday evening, Indiana Pacers co-captain Victory suffered what appeared to be a serious right knee injury, drawing pitch silence from the crowd and sending doubt about the star’s future in the NBA.
Oladipo fell in an awkward manner four minutes before the end of the game against the Toronto Raptors. But unlike any other fall, the guard’s injury was so scary that everyone in the arena became silent. The 26-year-old was whisked away in a stretcher and taken to a local hospital.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski confirmed Thursday morning that the Pacers had ruled out any chances the guard will return for the second part of this season.
“Preliminary exam has left Pacers with fear that Victor Oladipo has suffered a season-ending knee injury that will require surgery,” the reporter tweeted.
Before the injury, Oladipo was the Pacer’s leading scorer with an average of 19.2 points per game, 5.7 rebounds and 5.3 assists per game. With such a record, his injury is a big blow to the Pacers, currently ranked third in the Eastern Conference.
While there were able to beat the Raptors 110-106, only time will tell how good Indiana will be without the guard. Fortunately, Indiana has already figured a way win games without their star player. They are 7-4 without Oladipo this season. By contrast, they were 0-7 when the player got injured last season.
