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Indiana Pacers guard Victor Oladipo suffers knee injury
The NBA community, including players, fans and everyone in between poured out their support to Indiana Pacers guard Victor Oladipo following his gruesome knee injury. The talented young guard has quickly become one of the better guards in the NBA and has gained respect from around the league.
But while Oladipo is set to miss extended time, he recently took to social media in order to send a strong message of his own. Here’s a look at what the Pacers star had to say on Instagram Saturday afternoon.
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I can’t even lie the last few months have been really tough for not only me but for my family as well. You give it your all, literally your blood, sweat and tears to the game you love and things like this happen. No matter how much hard work and effort you put into perfecting your craft you cannot predict the challenges you’ll face ahead. But there is always that point in time where you wonder why it’s happening to you. You even wonder if there was something you could have done differently to prevent the outcome. The confusion, the contemplation, the anger, the sadness and the tears that flow frequently come, but they never last. The amount of support, love and prayers that I have received over the past few days have been breathtaking and has truly inspired me to come back even better than before. Thank you to everyone including all my teammates, pacer fans and staff. Thank you to all the NBA fans around the world and all my brothers around the league who texted, called, tweeted and posted me I am truly thankful. It’s going to be tough but tough times don’t last tough people do. It’s time for me to truly practice what I preach and trust my God in heaven and the plan he has for me. I will be back better than ever and if you question that well, thank you. Greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world! I am #UnBreakable.
A post shared by Victor Oladipo (@vicoladipo) on Jan 26, 2019 at 9:31am PST
It’s a pretty incredible message from Oladipo, who’s likely struggling (understandably) keep his spirits up at this moment. But while the 26-year-old faces a long road back, he’s going to have plenty of support and seems to be incredibly driven.
Victor Oladipo’s Injury Diagnosis
The Pacers broke the news that an MRI on Oladipo’s knee revealed he had suffered a ruptured quad tendon.
Victor Oladipo underwent an MRI Thursday that revealed he has a ruptured quad tendon in his right knee, sustained with 4:05 to play in the second quarter of Wednesday night’s game against Toronto. He will undergo surgery at a date to be determined and will be out for the season. Further updates will be provided as warranted.
It’s tough to hear, and Oladipo had been a huge part of the Pacers becoming a top-three team in the Eastern Conference. Through 36 games, Oladipo had posted averages of 18.8 points, 5.6 rebounds and 5.2 assists per game. His timeline for a return won’t bring him back this season, but fans can hold out hope that he could potentially return early next year.
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Jeff Smith is a former sports editor and contributor to Heavy.com. He has covered professional sports since 2014, including stops at Sports Illustrated, ESPN, USA TODAY Sports Media Group, FOX Sports, Bleacher Report and CBS Sports. More about Jeff Smith