2. Oladipo’s Projected Cost
Next season, Victor Oladipo enters the final year of a four-year, $85 million deal he signed while with the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Pacers owe the 28-year-old roughly $21 million in 2020. The only other players on Indiana’s roster making that kind of money are Brogdon and Turner.
Assuming Oladipo stays healthy in 2020, $21 million isn’t a bad price for an All-NBA, All-Defensive player. However, there’s very little chance that Oladipo and Indiana reach an extension. According to Spotrac, he’s the ninth-highest paid shooting guard in terms of average salary.
Two of the guards making more money per year than Oladipo, Nicolas Batum and CJ McCollum, haven’t even made All-Star games. Two other players, Bradley Beal and DeMar DeRozan, played on teams that missed the playoffs and didn’t make All-Star appearances this year.
Despite his injuries, Oladipo could ask for a new deal that places him in the NBA’s top-five highest-paid shooting guards. DeRozan is the fifth highest-paid player at his position right now, making $27.8 million annually. The four players above DeRozan rake in over $30 million per year. Considering Indiana’s current situation, that kind of extension doesn’t make any sense.
The Pacers would get more out of Oladipo if they traded him instead of offering a massive extension.
