Victor Oladipo soars for dunk over Jazz
Victor Oladipo looks healthy again, unleashing a monster dunk over Trey Lyles and the Utah Jazz during the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Saturday game.
It’s safe to say the Oklahoma City Thunder missed having a healthy Victor Oladipo.
Despite having an MVP frontrunner in Russell Westbrook, the Thunder have struggled in their 15 games without Oladipo this season. OKC went 8-7 in that span, compared to 28-22 with him on the court.
In any case, Saturday’s home contest against the Utah Jazz marked Oladipo’s third game back from injury, and it looks like he’s 100 percent healthy again if we’re judging him by athletic ability.
About halfway through the second quarter, Oladipo snaked around a screen, unleashed a wicked crossover to create some separation and burst towards the rim over power forward Trey Lyles. The result was a monster highlight reminding people that OKC owns the NBA’s most athletic backcourt:
Oladip-oh my pic.twitter.com/qFkZM2RZ8Z
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) March 11, 2017
On a dunk like that, we’re not even sure if a Defensive Player of the Year candidate like Rudy Gobert could’ve stopped him.
The most underrated part of this move is the crossover to free up space. The speed he unleashes to get to the rim is jaw-dropping, as is the leap around/over Lyles to slam it home.
Though Oladipo hasn’t blossomed into a two-way NBA star like most people were expecting, he’s still having a solid season in Oklahoma City, averaging 16.2 points and 4.4 rebounds per game while shooting 45 percent from the field and 36.8 percent from long range.
Heading into Saturday’s game, Oladipo’s first two games back featured a 16-point outing in a loss to the Portland Trail Blazers and a 20-point performance in a win over the San Antonio Spurs. Halfway through the fourth quarter on Saturday, Oladipo had 21 points on 8-of-15 shooting, including 3-for-6 shooting from downtown.
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The Thunder have struggled without Oladipo despite Russell Westbrook’s individual brilliance, but hopefully this dunk is a sign of great things to come for the rest of the season.