Victor Oladipo spoke about the struggles he faced after the first major trade of his career.
As an NBA player, your future can often be very uncertain. Between July and February, players can immediately trade to another team.
And until this year, we thought that we would be exempt from this threat unless the star players specifically demand trade.
But Luka Donsic’s epic trade with the Los Angeles Lakers earlier this year proved that there is no star truly safe from this fate.
Victor Oladipo recently spoke about the shocking trade from Orlando’s magic to the Oklahoma City Thunder and how it broke his heart.
Read more: What the Dallas Mavericks did for Luka Donsic was “perfect.”
Victor Oladipo spoke at the inner court about Luka Donsic’s trade. He likened it to his own trade, from the Orlando Magic to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Oladipo explained that it was an emotional blow to him, and that he started crying. And he went through the same thing again when Thunder exchanged him again.
“I’m not going to sit here and say that it was anything on Luka’s level, but defensively, I was on the same level as he was offensive.”
“I traded at age 24 and traded in the league for my third year. I didn’t know it was traded. I never thought it was traded.
“I was the second pick. The second pick won’t trade. You should be in the same organization for a while. And I was traded. And boom, I’m going to OKC. I played there for a year.
Read more: “Amazing Leadership Fail”… Former Dallas Mayor destroys Nico Harrison with “personal” Luka Donsic trade
Oladipo then explained how he learned no matter how good he was and even if he was a consumable. And it was a bitter medicine to swallow. He added that Donsic’s deal now makes this the norm.
“I knew it, but I didn’t necessarily want to believe it. I just bought a crib and felt like I was getting better there every year. That was embarrassing for me, so it was tough to deal with.”
“It wasn’t like that now that we were able to trade everyone at this point. If Luke is traded, the whole story is that no one is safe. Everyone is trading now, that’s kind of normal.”
“But back then, it just felt, so you didn’t want me, you didn’t want me, you didn’t think I was good enough, you thought you thought there was something good.”
The NBA could be a very difficult place for them, due to all the opportunities it offers young men. Perhaps this is the cost of becoming a superstar in the sports of basketball.