4. Victor Oladipo, All-Star
When the Indiana Pacers traded Paul George to the Oklahoma City Thunder last summer for the seemingly paltry haul of Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis, Pacers general manager Kevin Pritchard was roundly raked over the coals. When Pritchard attempted to sell the trade by noting both Oladipo and Sabonis were former lottery picks, the sneering only grew louder.
Who’s laughing now?
After plateauing statistically over the past few years, Oladipo soared during his first season with the Pacers. Heading into the final Saturday of the regular season, the former Indiana Hoosier was posting career-best marks in points (23.1), field-goal percentage (47.3 percent), rebounds (5.2), assists (4.3), steals (2.4) and 3-pointers (2.1). He leads the NBA in both steals and steal percentage (3.4 percent), and he helped the Pacers earn their seventh playoff berth in the past eight seasons.
Those feats didn’t go unnoticed by the NBA community. Oladipo made his first All-Star Game appearance in February as part of Team LeBron, and he’s all but a lock to be named Most Improved Player this year as well. Assuming Oladipo does bring home MIP in the coming weeks, he’ll be the third Pacer to do so within the past decade, joining George (2012-13) and Danny Granger (2008-09).
Now, think back to the immediate reaction to the George trade. Ben Golliver of Sports Illustrated gave the Pacers a D, writing, “Pritchard made the right, difficult decision — to trade George early so that his franchise could move forward — but the return leaves so, so much to be desired.” James Herbert of CBS Sports handed Indiana a D-minus for the trade, adding, “There is no way to frame this as anything but a disappointing deal for the Pacers, unless you believe that Oladipo is going to turn into an All-Star.”
Thanks to Oladipo’s breakout year, it’s safe to say neither Pritchard nor the Pacers are disappointed now.
Next: 3. Cleveland's trade-deadline demolition