NBA
Victor Oladipo Takes Home The Most Improved Player Award
The future of the Indiana Pacers last summer when Paul George requested a trade. So they traded him to the Oklahoma City Thunder for guard Victor Oladipo and forward Domantas Sabonis. Oladipo surprised everyone in the NBA and put together a spectacular season.
On Monday night, Oladipo capped of his spectacular 2017-18 season by receiving the NBA’s Most Improved Player Award. He beat out Brooklyn Nets guard Spencer Dinwiddie and Houston Rockets center Clint Capela to win it. Oladipo averaged 23.1 points, 5.2 rebounds, 4.3 assists, and a league leading 2.4 steals per game. He also shot a career high 47.7% from the field.
The Pacers franchise now has the the star they need that can lead them. He’s the fifth Pacer to win the award, which came into the NBA in 1985-86. The previous winners of the award for the Pacers were Jalen Rose, Jermaine O’Neal, Danny Granger and Paul George.
In a season where the Pacers were expected to be a lottery team, they surprised everyone and made the playoffs. Oladipo led the team to a 48-34 record, which was good enough for fifth in the eastern conference. He also came close to leading the Pacers to a first round upset against the Cleveland Cavaliers, but LeBron James’ dominance was too much to overcome. The Pacers lost the hard fought series in seven games.
This award for both Oladipo and the Pacers is a huge deal. Most of the time, a small market team struggles for years, sometimes decades, to recover from losing their franchise player. Oladipo gives the Pacers franchise the hope they need as they now can focus on adding pieces to build around him. In addition to the Most Improved Player Award, he also made his first all star team and made the NBA third team.
