Victor Oladipo was one of the elite two-way shooting guards of the 2010s. Over 10 years in the NBA, he built up a cult following with his hard-nosed and explosive brand of basketball. However, he recently questioned his fans’ loyalty in response to a seemingly unwarranted claim.
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“I was your biggest fan Vic. Til you were begging Heat players to let you come play with them. That’s when you lost me,” a former Oladipo lifer wrote on X. His tweet caught the eye of the two-time All-Star who stepped in to clear the air.
“The fact you believe a reporter that could never be on the court or anywhere near the team during games means you were lost way before you saw that brother,” Oladipo responded online.
The fact you believe a reporter that could never be on the court or anywhere near the team during games means you were lost way before you saw that brother. #respectfully 🙏🏿🙌🏿 https://t.co/NrGPkdCIhs
— Victor Oladipo (@VicOladipo) January 13, 2025
This story has been developing for years already and this isn’t the first time Oladipo has addressed it either. In 2020, reports began surfacing that Oladipo was approaching his opponents during games and asking them to trade for him — in front of his own teammates.
“It happened vs. the Toronto Raptors, it happened vs. the Miami Heat, it happened vs. the New York Knicks. “Can I come play with y’all?” Or some iteration of that puzzling statement,” the ‘Indianapolis Star’ reported.
At the time, Oladipo was on the last year of his four-year $85 million contract. He had signed it during his lone season in OKC, but nine months after the extension, the team would trade him to Indiana as part of the Paul George trade.
His first season with the Pacers was a breakout year for him. He led the league in steals, earned his first All-Star selection and won the Most Improved Player of the Year award, cementing his rising status as one of the league’s best two-way combo guards.
However, his second season in Indiana would be derailed by a ruptured quad tendon that forced him to undergo surgery. At the start of the 2019-20 season, Oladipo was still rehabbing his knee and the Pacers briefly assigned him to their G League team so he could get extra time to practice.
Whether it was the relegation that sparked bad blood between the team and the player or just his impending contract extension, there were clear question marks about the Pacers star’s future in the Hoosier State. He was forced to clear the air in 2020 when he was first accused of asking teams to trade for him.
“I know there have been people saying that I have asked players to trade for me. That’s just not true, period,” Oladipo told Shams Charania. “I love my teammates, I cherish the state of Indiana and I’m focused on leading this franchise to a title.”
Of course, that helped steady the ship back then but it wasn’t enough to secure his future in Indiana. Following back-to-back All-Star selections, Oladipo was looking for a maximum contract extension, which the Pacers were hesitant to offer him, given his very recent injury woes.
Indy would trade the former #2 pick to Houston in 2021 where he turned down a two-year $45.2 million extension. He would eventually end up in Miami as the Rockets traded him a few months later. His inconsistencies forced him to sign a one-year veteran’s minimum contract with the Heat that season.
In 2022, Oladipo signed his final NBA deal: a two-year $18.2 million contract, at the end of which he would retire. In October 2024, the 32-year-old joined ESPN as an analyst, marking a definitive end to his NBA career.
