NBA Exec Says Pacers Will Trade Victor Oladipo: 'He's Gone. They'll Move Him'

Victor Oladipo, entering the final season of his contract and eligible to be an unrestricted free agent next summer, is a prime candidate to be traded before the March 25 trade deadline. 

Or as one league executive more bluntly told Bob Kravitz of The Athletic: "He's gone. They'll move him."

That followed a November report in the Indianapolis Star that Oladipo had been asking players from opposing teams to push their teams to acquire him:

Oladipo denied that report.

"I know there have been people saying that I have asked players to trade for me. That's just not true, period," he told The Athletic. "I love my teammates, I cherish the state of Indiana and I'm focused on leading this franchise to a title." 

The 28-year-old is a polarizing figure. On one hand, the two-time All-Star was a third-team All-NBA selection in the 2017-18 season, averaging 23.1 points, 5.2 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game while shooting 47.7 percent from the field and 37.1 percent from three.

He looked like one of the top perimeter players in the NBA that season, and general managers who believe Oladipo can return to that level will surely inquire about his availability. 

On the other hand, injuries have limited him to just 55 games since that season, and he's never truly replicated that level of play. Add in the fact that it's always a risk trading assets for a player in the last year of a contract, at the risk of losing them for nothing in free agency, and the Pacers may struggle to get top value in return for Oladipo. 

Regardless, it sure seems like Oladipo's time in Indy is coming to a close. With the Pacers already owing a total of $82.9 million to the core of Malcolm Brogdon, Domantas Sabonis, Myles Turner, T.J. Warren and Jeremy Lamb next season, splashing max dollars on Oladipo—which he'll likely be expecting—could leave the Pacers in a future salary crunch. 

And the risk of losing him for nothing as a free agent is too great. An in-season divorce feels inevitable.