Former NBA All-Star Victor Oladipo was revealed as the newest addition to ESPN's NBA analyst team. On the latest episode of 'NBA Today', Oladipo was brought out and introduced to be a member of ESPN and will be part of their programming going forward.
Victor Oladipo was the second overall pick in the 2013 NBA Draft. He was drafted by the Orlando Magic and spent three seasons with the Magic before being traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder. After just one season with the Thunder, Oladipo was traded to the Indiana Pacers along with Domantas Sabonis.
It was with the Pacers that Oladipo became a star player in the NBA, earning his first All-Star nomination that year, along with being selected to the All-NBA third team, and being named the NBA's Most Improved Player that season. He followed it up with yet another All-Star nomination the following year, despite struggling with injuries.
Those injury concerns never went away for Oladipo, as he spent a great deal of the 2019-20 NBA season out with injuries. He was traded by the Pacers to the Rockets in 2021, as part of the James Harden deal. He was then sent to the Miami Heat the following season, where he spent the most amount of time since the Pacers.
He was traded from the Heat back to the Thunder, who then sent him back to the Rockets again, who then traded him to the Grizzlies for Steven Adams. Oladipo didn't play a game with any of the three teams before being waived by the Grizzlies in February of 2024.
For his career, Oladipo averaged 16.9 points, 4.5 assists, 3.9 assists, 1.6 steals, and 0.3 blocks per game. Oladipo may not have found another NBA team that was willing to offer him a contract this season, and he chose to take the offer from ESPN to join their analyst panel going forward.
ESPN Continues To Revamp Their Team
ESPN has undergone a lot of changes in the last year, especially from a basketball personnel standpoint. Recently, they let go of longtime analyst Zach Lowe , in a move that was panned by several fans, accusing ESPN of straying away from genuine analysis and seeking more sensationalized content from wild personalities.
The biggest blow to ESPN was the recent retirement of Adrian Wojnarowski, who was their NBA reporter who would break several news stories about player transactions. In the wake of his retirement, ESPN chose to replace Woj with his protege-turned-longtime rival Shams Charania .
Perhaps ESPN will continue to revamp their lineup. Stephen A. Smith recently revealed he is negotiating his new contract with ESPN, and is demanding a $100 deal from them, even explaining why .
If ESPN chooses not to meet Smith's demands, they may have to look elsewhere and try to find a personality as popular and controversial as Smith. He has been a mainstay on the network for almost 2 decades and is their most recognizable personality, so that will be a difficult task for ESPN executives.
Related: Adrian Wojnarowski Gets Real On Shams Charania Joining ESPN
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