Victor Oladipo Held Funeral for Injured Knee with Pastor Ahead of 2020-21 Season
Houston Rockets star Victor Oladipo adopted a unique technique to hit the reset button ahead of the 2020-21 NBA season.
Oladipo, who started the season with the Indiana Pacers, explained to ESPN's Eric Woodyard on Monday how he took part in a mock funeral for the right knee in which he suffered a ruptured quad tendon in January 2019:
"I was feeling better, but my mind was so used to protecting me -- and being hesitant because of my leg -- that I had created a habit of doing that. And burying my injury and letting myself know that I'm healed, I'm stronger than ever before, it gave me the courage, the strength to actually go out there and perform and not think about the leg. Not defer as much.
"That was definitely huge for my process, especially my mental health process."
According to Woodyard, the two-time All-Star wrote a letter and listened to a prayer from pastor and motivational speaker Eric Thomas. Upon the completion of the prayer, he took the letter outside and burned it.
Oladipo struggled upon returning to the court last season. He averaged 14.5 points and 2.9 assists while shooting 39.4 percent from the floor in 19 regular-season games. His performance didn't improve much in the postseason as the Pacers got swept by the Miami Heat.
The "funeral" seems to have provided a boost. Through 12 games with the Pacers and Rockets, he's averaging 20.6 points, 5.3 rebounds and 4.7 assists while shooting 41.3 percent from the field.
