INDIANAPOLIS — When the Indiana Pacers head to Orlando to resume the NBA season, they will be without star player Victor Oladipo.
Oladipo has decided to sit out the resumed 2019-20 season, Oladipo told Shams Charania of The Athletic.
“I feel like I’m at a great place in my rehab and getting closer and closer to 100 percent,” Oladipo told The Athletic. “With all the variables, from how I have to build my 5-on-5 workload back up, to the increased risk of a soft tissue injury which could delay my rehab, and the unknown exact set up of the bubble, I just can’t get my mind to being fully comfortable in playing. I have to be smart and this decision hasn’t been easy, but I truly believe continuing on the course I’m on and getting fully healthy for the 2020-21 season is the right decision for me.”
Oladipo suffered a ruptured quad tendon in his right knee in Jan. 2019. He rehabbed for a year before returning Jan. 29, 2020 against the Chicago Bulls. Oladipo played 13 games in his return and, in his final four games before the NBA shut down in March, averaged 19.5 points, 4.3 rebounds, and four assists.
