Tall, athletically built, and an undisputed starter, Victor Oladipo is living the dream of any budding hoops player within and outside the Indiana Pacers’ setup. The African American who has been with the Pacers since 2017 started his professional career with Orlando Magic and has since then garnered a slew of personal and team achievements. These include being the NBA’s Most Improved Player and making the NBA All-Star Team, both in 2018.
Victor Oladipo Bio, Age
The basketballer whose full name is Kehinde Babatunde Victor Oladipo was born on May 4, 1992, and raised in Maryland, United States. His mother is Joan Amanze Oladipo, and his father’s name is Christopher Oladipo. His mom is a Nigerian immigrant to the United States, and his father, a Sierra Leonian, is a public health executive and behavioral scientist in the United States.
Victor who has a twin sister, Victoria, and two older siblings, Kristine and Kendra started playing basketball at DeMatha High School in his native Maryland. He was a stellar player and led the school’s team to the WCAC and City championship titles in his senior year.
Victor’s playing career and education took him next to Indiana University where he studied sports communication broadcasting.
After making only five starts in his freshman season, he was dubbed the team’s most improved player for his contributions in his sophomore year where he hit 10 points or more in each of the 21 games he played. He also helped the team make it to the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA tournament where they were defeated by eventual national champions, Kentucky.
His burgeoning defensive ability and leadership helped the Hoosiers clinch the Big Ten Championship in his junior season. He ended the season with the fourth-best field goal percentage nationwide and third in true shooting percentage. He also became Indiana’s all-time second-best on the number of steals per season after hauling 69 steals, five behind Isiah Thomas’s 74 in the 1980/1981 season.
Victor Oladipo wrapped up his junior season with various recognitions. These included the Sporting News Men’s College Basketball Player of the Year, a Co-Defensive Player of the Year Award, and a Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year Award. He was also named to the first-team All-American and first-team Big Ten teams.
Career Stats
Skipping his senior college season, Victor was drafted second overall at the 2013 NBA draft by Orlando Magic. After recording the first triple-double of his career in December of 2013 against the Philadelphia 76ers, he went on to participate in the Taco Bell Rising Stars Challenge and the BBVA Rising Stars Challenge in February of 2014.
In the same month, he went on to garner 14 assists in a single game in a win over the New York Knicks and ended up as runner-up in the voting for Rookie Player of the Year.
Despite suffering a fracture to his face during training ahead of the 2014/2015 season, the team triggered the third-year option on his contract. He returned a little under a month later wearing a protective mask in a game against the Milwaukee Bucks. He again competed in the Rising Stars Challenge and was runner-up to Zach LaVine in the Slam Dunk Contest.
Orlando triggered his third-year option ahead of his third season with the franchise on October 25, 2015. After a relatively poor start to the season, he was relegated to a bench role which seemed to improve his season starts somewhat. However, after 8 games off the bench, he suffered a shooting slump in six straight games in December. Victor Oladipo returned to his starting role on January 4 against the Detroit Pistons.
He would go on to record a history-making career-high 45 points against the Cleveland Cavaliers. This made him the first player to achieve 40 or more points for Orlando since 2013 and only the ninth in the team’s history. He would, however, miss the last three games of the season after suffering a concussion.
Victor was traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder on June 23, 2016. After his 10-point debut on October 26, he put pen to paper on a whopping four-year contract extension worth $84 million. His good season contributions were interwoven with periods on the sidelines due to an injury to his right wrist and later back spasms.
He was traded to the Indiana Pacers on July 6, 2017. He became an undisputed scorer for the team and was rewarded with the Eastern Conference Player of the Week for the last week of October 2017, a feat he would repeat in December of the same year after hitting a career-high 47 points in a 126–116 victory over the Denver Nuggets. He was subsequently named as a reserve to the Eastern Conference All-Star Team.
At the end of the season, Victor Oladipo was named the NBA’s Most Improved Player of the Season. This made him only the fifth player in the history of the Indiana Pacers to clinch the title. Oladipo’s stat averages at the end of the campaign were 23.1 points, 4.3 assists, and 2.4 steals per game.
As at the end of the 2017/2018 season, Oladipo had played 366 regular-season games in his professional career, starting 306 of them. In these games, he has averaged 17.4 points per game, 1.7 steals, 3.8 assists, 4.5 rebounds, and an impressive .445 field goal percentage.
Victor Oladipo Salary and Net Worth
Since his $84 million four-year contract extension while with the Oklahoma City Thunder, Victor Oladipo has been receiving a base annual salary of $21.25 million. This value came down to $21 million when he joined the Indiana Pacers along with a dead cap value to the tune of $63 million.
According to Celebrity Net Worth, basketball has a net worth of $10 million. However, other sources claim his valuation is closer to $22 million. Either way, his value can only increase as his career unfolds.
Height, Weight, and Body Measurements
The player from Maryland may not be nearly the tallest player in the NBA, but he stands at a height that is intimidating for the average American and has the body build to go with it. Victor stands at a height of 6 feet 4 inches (1.93 m) and maintains an athletically capable weight of 95 kg (210 lb). There is no other verifiable information concerning his body measurements.
