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Indiana Pacers G Victor Oladipo has been confirmed for his season debut Wednesday vs. the Chicago Bulls. The superstar has been working his way back from a torn quad and this game had been the planned date for his return for a few weeks now. Oladipo will be on a minutes restriction moving forward.
McMillan only will say Oladipo will play and be restricted min thru All Star break where they’ll revisit his playing time #PacersBulls
— J. Michael (@ThisIsJMichael) January 28, 2020
Fantasy basketball analysis: Indiana Pacers G Victor Oladipo
Oladipo will be on a minutes restriction, which isn’t surprising at all really. A torn quad is a very serious injury when it comes to basketball, so I’d expect Dipo will play around 15-20 minutes per game until after the All-Star break. Still, his return bumps down a few players, mainly role players like T.J. McConnell and Aaron Holiday, as well as Doug McDermott and Jeremy Lamb.
All four should see a slight downgrade in either minutes or usage. Once Oladipo is back to full strength, I don’t see McConnell and Holiday having too much fantasy basketball value. It’s tough to gauge right now given we don’t know how Dipo will look/what the rotation will look like. I’d wait and see on dropping a few of those guys mentioned.
I think Oladipo being back shouldn’t hold back studs like Malcolm Brogdon and Domantas Sabonis. Both should benefit from Oladipo’s playmaking ability, floor spacing, overall talent. Maybe in DFS I’d lean against playing Brogdon and Sabonis down the line, but not until Oladipo is seeing normal minutes.