Out of the NBA since the 2023-24 season, two-time All-Star Victor Oladipo says he is finally healthy and ready to make a comeback.
The 34-year-old guard penned an open letter to the league’s general managers in The Players’ Tribune on Tuesday, asking for an opportunity.
The No. 2 overall pick in the 2013 NBA Draft, Oladipo ruptured the quadriceps tendon in his right knee in January 2019 and tore the patellar tendon in his left knee in April 2023. He has not played more than 42 games in a season since 2017-18.
“I believe my body is finally right,” Oladipo wrote. “I believe I still have GREAT (and more importantly WINNING) basketball in front of me. I believe I can be a valuable contributor to an NBA locker room. And what I’m asking for right now is an opportunity to prove it.”
Oladipo held a private workout for front office personnel in July during the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas. He played part of last season for the G League’s Wisconsin Herd.
“I don’t know how my journey here is going to end,” he wrote. “Maybe a team out there will give me a chance. Maybe no team will. That’s really up to you all. But if you’re in an NBA front office, and you took the time to read this: Thank you from the bottom of my heart. And I can promise you one thing, always, about my basketball story … from the first page to the last.
“It’s a love story.”
An All-Star with Indiana in 2017-18 and 2018-19, he averaged 16.9 points, 4.5 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 1.6 steals in 504 career games (397 starts) with the Orlando Magic, Oklahoma City Thunder, Pacers, Houston Rockets and Miami Heat.
