The results of Victor Oladipo's MRI won't be public until later today, but it's fair to assume that last night's gruesome, non-contact injury will at least cost him the rest of the 2018-19 season. If it's something even more serious - i.e. a patella tendon rupture - then that could bleed into the next season as well.
Unfortunately, season-altering injuries and/or surgeries have become a common occurrence for Indianapolis sports fans in the 2010s. Here's a look at some of the others that have plagued the city:
2011 Peyton Manning (neck): The surprise news of Peyton Manning undergoing a third neck procedure shocked fans in early September of 2011. It cost Peyton the entire season - a year where the Colts bottomed up to a 2-14 record - and led to his eventual release in the Spring of 2012. That tearful goodbye at the podium with Jim Irsay is still one of the most difficult moments in Indianapolis sports history.
2014 Paul George (leg): Coming off a 2013-14 season where he earned All-NBA and All-Defensive Team honors in leading the Pacers to the #1 seed in the East, George snapped his leg in half while playing for Team USA at the FIFA World Cup in Spain in August. Luckily for him, the injury was a lot less serious than it looked, although the broken leg still wiped out most of the 2014-15 season. George did recover in time to play the final handful of games in April, but wasn’t effective, and his relationship with fans and the franchise deteriorated rapidly over the following two seasons, leading to his eventual trade to Oklahoma City.
2017 Andrew Luck (shoulder): After playing through a myriad of injuries in the 2015 and 2016 seasons, Luck finally underwent shoulder surgery in January of 2017. However, that surgery didn’t seem to take, and despite a brief comeback attempt in October, Luck never took a snap in the 2017 season. From snowboarding accidents to dramatic weight loss to alternative treatments in Europe, this 18-month saga had a lot of twists and turns, but things finally went back to normal in 2018, with Luck earning Comeback Player of the Year Honors.
We'll have to wait and see how severe this injury is, but Oladipo is still just 26 and under contract for the next few seasons, so you'd hope that he can recover and get back to All-Star form. Regardless, like for Peyton, PG, and Luck, it will certainly be a long road back.