Victor Oladipo staged a mock funeral for his injured knee

Victor Oladipo‘s quest to return to All-Star caliber is as much mental as it is physical. To bury his mental struggles, he tried something. We’ll call it unique.

Let’s get something straight first thing. Victor Oladipo’s leg is not dead. It is as alive as the rest of him. This is a good thing. While his right knee is still in the late stages of recovery from a ruptured quad tendon, being injured is generally considered better than being dead.

So for that reason, it might seem a little excessive to hold a mock funeral for said limb, as was reported on ESPN. According to that piece, before his final preseason game this year, Oladipo held a Zoom call with motivational speaker Eric Thomas and his managing partner to put the injury to rest. This included a letter, a prayer, and a ritual burning. It was the letter that was burned, by the way. It didn’t get weirder than that.

Is Victor Oladipo ready to return to All-Star form?

If you’re like me and enjoy finding things that make you laugh, this could be one of them. It seems like quite a bit of pageantry, however when you consider this was more to bury a harmful mindset that can come with returning to prior form (hesitation, second-guessing, doubt) rather than the knee itself, it’s a little less silly.

Knees don’t think, I don’t think, and recovery is as much a mental process as it is physical. One’s body can be as close to prime as possible, but if the memories of the injury and the resulting overcompensation remain then there will still be a dip in output and personal satisfaction.

So Victor Oladipo holding a ceremony with two people he trusts and respects in order to take a shot at moving past something severe, then there’s no reason not to give it a shot. Given his production this year compared to last, it’s hard to say it wasn’t worth a go.