Player of the Week

Wheat Hotchkiss

Victor Oladipo keeps adding new chapters to his storybook first season with the Pacers.

The NBA announced Monday that Indiana's All-Star guard is the Eastern Conference Player of the Week for games played March 26 - April 1. It is the third time this season that Oladipo has taken home the weekly honor, as he also received the award on Dec. 11 and Oct. 30.

Oladipo is the first player in franchise history to win Player of the Week honors three times in one season.

The fifth-year guard led the Pacers to three straight road wins last week, averaging 26.0 points, 6.7 assists, 5.0 rebounds, and 3.7 steals while going 29-for-43 from the field (67.4 percent) and 7-for-16 from 3-point range (43.8 percent).

The Pacers opened the week with a 92-81 win over the shorthanded Warriors on Tuesday, March 27. Oladipo was an efficient 9-for-12 from the field in that one, finishing with 24 points, six rebounds, six assists, and three steals.

Oladipo played the role of closer in Thursday's 106-103 win over the Kings, scoring 13 of Indiana's final 19 points to lift his team to victory. The former Indiana University All-American finished with 24 points, five rebounds, two assists, and three steals.

Finally on Sunday, Oladipo showed off his well-rounded game in a 111-104 win over the Clippers. He finished with 30 points, a season-high 12 assists, five steals, and four rebounds.

Oladipo is just the second player in the NBA this season to have 30 or more points, 10 or more assists, and five or more steals in a single game. James Harden was the first to do it on Nov. 7 against Cleveland.

For the season, Oladipo leads the league in steals, averaging 2.31 per game. He has tallied at least one steal in 60 consecutive contests, a franchise record and the sixth-longest streak in NBA history. He also ranks 10th in the NBA in scoring at 23.3 points per game.

Oladipo is the 12th player in franchise history to earn Player of the Week honors. Pacers players have won the award a total of 21 times. Paul George, the player traded to Oklahoma City in exchange for Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis, was the last Pacers player to earn the accolade, doing so five times (the last being April 9, 2017).

Oladipo shares this week's honors with Portland guard Damian Lillard, who was named Western Conference Player of the Week.

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Oladipo Named Player of the Week for Third Time This Season

In less than two full months with the Pacers, Victor Oladipo has emerged as a star. Across the NBA, people are starting to take notice of the Pacers' leading scorer.

Oladipo picked up another accolade when the NBA announced Monday that he is the Eastern Conference Player of the Week for Week 8 (games played Dec. 4-10). It is already the second time Oladipo has won Player of the Week honors this season, the only Eastern Conference player to win the award twice this season. He also earned the accolade on Oct. 30.

The fifth-year guard led the Pacers to four straight wins last week, averaging 30.8 points, 7.0 rebounds, 4.3 assists, and 1.8 steals. Oladipo shot 51.2 percent from the field and 47.5 from 3-point range over the four games.

PHOTO GALLERY: Oladipo's Week That Was »

The Pacers opened the week with a blowout win over the Knicks on Monday, Dec. 4. Oladipo didn't have do too much in that one, but still managed to tally 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting, five rebounds, four assists, and two blocks in a 115-97 win.

Oladipo's heroics began in earnest on Wednesday, when he hit the game-winning 3-pointer with with 31.1 seconds remaining to lift Indiana to a 98-96 win over the Bulls. Chicago had led the entire evening up until that point, but Oladipo came up with a steal and raced down the court, electing to pull up for the game-winner.

"I was surveying the scene at first, just seeing who was back, how many people were back and nobody stopped me," Oladipo said after the game. "I could have kept going and drove into the defense or pull up for the three, shoot the ball with confidence, and that's what I did."

Oladipo led all scorers with 27 points on 10-of-20 shooting (4-of-10 from 3-point range) and pulled down eight rebounds.

On Friday, Oladipo outdueled LeBron James as the Pacers' snapped Cleveland's 13-game winning streak. Oladipo had 33 points on 11-of-24 shooting (6-of-13 from beyond the arc), eight rebounds, and five assists in the 106-102 win. His six 3-pointers matched his career high, the final one a pull-up dagger with 1:01 remaining.

But Oladipo's best performance of the week came on Sunday, when he dropped a career-high 47 points in a 126-116 overtime win over Denver. Oladipo scored 32 points after halftime and finished the night 15-for-28 from the field, 6-for-12 from 3-point range, and 11-for-13 from the free throw line. He also had seven rebounds, six assists, and two steals in the victory.

"Y'all might be surprised, but I put in the work," Oladipo said after the win about his string of memorable performances. "I work every day. I have no limit to how hard I work. I'm trying to be great. There's no in between and I can't settle for anything less."

The performance was so great that the Bankers Life Fieldhouse crowd serenaded Oladipo with chants of "M-V-P" as the final seconds ticked away.

"That was incredible," Oladipo said. "You dream about stuff like that, but I've got a lot of work to do in order to get there."

Oladipo has already scored 20 or more points in 19 of 26 games this season. He only accomplished that feat 18 times in 67 games last season with the Thunder. His scoring average of 24.5 points per game currently ranks 10th in the NBA.

Oladipo is the 12th player in franchise history to earn Player of the Week honors. Pacers players have won the award a total of 21 times. Paul George, the player traded to Oklahoma City in exchange for Oladipo and Sabonis, was the last Pacers player to earn the accolade, doing so five times (the last being April 9, 2017).

As fate may have it, the next game for Oladipo and the Pacers is against George and the Thunder on Wednesday, Dec. 13 at 7:00 PM ET.

Oladipo shares this week's honors with Golden State forward Kevin Durant, who was named Western Conference Player of the Week.

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Oladipo Named Player of the Week for Second Time This Season

After draining what proved to be the game-winning shot in the closing seconds of Sunday's victory over San Antonio, Pacers guard Victor Oladipo turned to the crowd and proclaimed, "This is my city!"

For one week, at least, this is also his league.

The NBA announced Monday that Oladipo has been named the Eastern Conference Player of the Week for games played Oct. 23-29. The 6-4 guard and former Indiana University All-American averaged 28.7 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 2.7 assists over three games last week. He shot 60.4 percent from the field, 60 percent from 3-point range, and 95 percent from the free throw line while leading the Pacers to a 2-1 record.

He began the week by tallying 28 points, three rebounds, three assists, and two steals in a 130-107 win in Minnesota on Tuesday. Oladipo played a big part in helping the Pacers set a franchise record for single-game field goal percentage in the victory, going 11-for-16 from the field (2-for-4 from 3-point range).

The next night, Oladipo dropped a season-high 35 points and grabbed five rebounds in a 114-96 loss in Oklahoma City. Playing for the first time against the franchise that traded him to Indiana over the summer, Oladipo went 11-for-18 from the field, 5-for-8 from 3-point range, and a perfect 8-for-8 from the free throw line.

Then on Sunday, Oladipo scored 13 of his team-high 23 points in the fourth quarter of a 97-94 win over San Antonio, helping Indiana erase a nine-point deficit and ultimately hitting the winning shot, a high-arcing step-back 3-pointer over 6-11 forward LaMarcus Aldridge. Oladipo went 7-for-14 from the field and 2-for-3 from 3-point range in the win while also collecting four rebounds and five assists.

Oladipo has led the Pacers in scoring in each of their first six games this season. He currently ranks eighth in the NBA with a scoring average of 25.5 points per game.

Oladipo shared the weekly honor with New Orleans' DeMarcus Cousins, who was named Western Conference Player of the Week.