The Thunder put their future in the hands of Victor Oladipo
The Thunder took an unprecedented step with Victor Oladipo.
When Thunder general manager Sam Presti traded for Victor Oladipo this summer it quickly became a huge splash. It was easy to see that Presti was taking another step in order to surround Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook with great role players.
July 4th came around and Durant decided to take his talents elsewhere. This move left the Thunder with Oladipo and Westbrook. While Oladipo has been around the league for a few years he is only 24 years old; he went from being a role player in a rebuilding process to the second scorer on a playoff team.
It was not much more than a few months after trading for him that the Thunder signed Oladipo to an extension.
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When OKC signed the young shooting guard to an extension it was a move that they have not normally made. The team had not even seen Oladipo play in a regular season game with Westbrook before giving him the extension. Essentially the Thunder signed the Indiana product like a free agent, receiving a big time contract before ever proving anything.
Moving forward Oladipo will be a top paid shooting guard in the league, and if the Thunder are going to have any success he will need to play like one. Oklahoma City is not a team that likes to go over the cap limit and Oladipo’s payday will hurt their flexibility.
While Steven Adams may have been given a similar contact to Oladipo’s it is a different situation for the big man. Adams had played alongside Westbrook for years and the two clearly gelled. Oladipo and Westbrook though? That is a duo that is still learning to click 60 games into the season.
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Oladipo does not need to become a superstar; he needs to live up to a $21 million a year contract. If he can prove the contract is fair it will give the team the chance to trade him. A Oladipo trade would be needed in the future if OKC truly wants another superstar. The team simply pays him too much to use him as a role player.
If Oladipo continues to grow then the Thunder will have gotten a steal. The risk is that if he doesn’t then it could set the team back for years. It’s possible they could be paying big money for a middle of the pack shooting guard.
Sam Presti put his trust in Oladipo though, so we all should too.