Indiana Pacers of USA basketball star, Victor Oladipo has raised reservations about his chances of being in action for the club on the first day of the restart of action in the league early next month, as he is thinking about further stepping up his fitness and physical conditioning, megasportsarena.com reports.
Rather than jump at the enthusiasm of the return to active days in USA’s National Basketball Association (NBA) league, The Pacers’ guard is still harboring worries over coronavirus, which put the season on hold in the first place, and Oladipo says it is best to be cautious about the planned return of matches next month.
Aside fears of contracting the deadly respiratory disease in a possible fresh wave of the deadly respiratory disease in another infectious spread Oladipo also reckons that he needs more time to put himself back into top shape after suffering a recent injury that ruled him out for a year.
Although Oladipo said he is quite hopeful of playing when the NBA restarts its season in Florida next month, the Nigerian-born lad admitted he wants to ramp up his activity before making up his mind with a final decision, as the 28-year-old Cupid-faced player only returned to action late January, after missing approximately a full calendar year due to a torn right quad tendon.
After returning from the blight, Oladipo appeared in 13 games, but had to fill his minutes with periodic time off, before the season was suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic on March 11, and he now wants to limit the chances of another major injury flooring him this year.
With that in mind, Oladipo is now taking advantage of a rule that states that players must tell their teams if they plan not to participate during the resumed season in Orlando, but the Pacers do not have to rush a decision on him getting into action with the team early next month.
Information out of God’s Own Country revealed that The Pacers do not have to provide a roster until July 1, and they could keep him on the roster weeks beyond that before making a decision on the youngster, who averaged 21.7 points, 5.3 rebounds, 4.6 assists and 2.1 steals in 33.3 minutes during back-to-back NBA All-Star campaigns from 2017 to 2019.
In seven NBA seasons, Oladipo has career averages of 17.4 points, 4.6 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 1.7 steals; while also averaging 13.8 points, 3.2 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 0.8 steals in 13 games (10 starts) after his return, and 25.9 minutes per game before COVID-19 put this term on hold.
Oladipo told ESPN: “I feel a whole lot better. I know there’s risk going into it with the unique situation that I’m in – being off so long and trying to ramp it up that fast. I’ve just got to be smart, that’s all.”
