ORLANDO — Victor Oladipo was back in a familiar place among familiar faces, exchanging handshakes and hugs inside the Magic’s practice gym.
But three years after arriving as a key part of a youth movement with an eye on the future in Orlando, he’s packing up for a new location and a completely different attitude. It’s win-now in Oklahoma City.
A little more than a week since the draft night deal that sent the 6-4 guard to the Thunder, he’s still adjusting to the idea.
“I’ve dreamed about that stage, you know?” Oladipo said at the Orlando Pro Summer League. “Dreamed about the opportunity to be on that type of stage and have that opportunity to compete for a championship, and now I have that opportunity. So I’ve got to take full advantage of it.”
Since the Magic made him the No. 2 overall pick in 2013, Oladipo was named to the All-Rookie first team in 2014 and has averaged 15.9 points, 4.4 rebounds and 4.0 assists. But none of the 224 NBA games he’s got under his belt have come in the playoffs and that is expected to change.
“It’s kind of funny from going from one extreme to another,” Oladipo said. “But it’s pretty cool. It’s all a blessing, and I’m looking forward to the next chapter in my life. It was shock at first. But once it settled in I got really excited, really fast.”
Oladipo was on a plane enroute to Los Angeles to take part in Chris Paul’s basketball camp when the deal went down on June 23 and by the time he was back on the ground, his mailbox was full of phone messages, including one from his new teammate Russell Westbrook.
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Westbrook sent out a Snapchat right after the deal was made public that said: “It’s curtains.”
“He reached out to me five minutes after the trade happened,” Oladipo said. “He’s excited. I don’t know if he’s as excited as I am. He just asked me if I was ready and asked me if I’m excited. I told him I’m ready. And I’m excited. It’s gonna be fun, man. Just can’t wait to put on that uniform and compete.”
An interesting part of the trade is the Magic were looking to abandon their youth movement and wanted to add the veteran presence and inside defense of Serge Ibaka after failing year after year to make the playoffs in their rebuilding process. It gave OKC an opportunity to pluck the still young Oladipo to put him in the backcourt with Westbrook.
The potential for combustion at both ends of the court is great. Westbrook is unique as basketball’s most athletic, off-the-charts dynamite stick of a point guard. Now the Thunder can pair him with the quick Oladipo at shooting guard to form a backcourt that could be positively explosive.
“It’s going to be fun to watch,” Oladipo said. “It definitely is going to be fun to play with him. We are similar in mentality. So it’s going to be very interesting to see how that works out.”
As word of the trade spread, Oladipo began sending out text messages to his friends with emojis of rings.
“Because that’s what my goal is,” he said. “To help this team win a championship. It’s like going from one extreme to another. Being part of something bigger than yourself.”
