Victor Oladipo won't travel with Pacers on five-game road trip as he prepares for Jan. 29 return

INDIANAPOLIS – As he prepares for his return to the court after more than a year of rehab for his ruptured quad tendon, Victor Oladipo will not travel with the Pacers during the team’s five-game, eight-day road trip that begins this weekend, coach Nate McMillan said Tuesday.

Last week, Oladipo and the team announced that the All-Star was targeting a return in the team’s Jan. 29 home game against the Bulls, which immediately follows Indiana’s second of three five-game road trips this season.  But up until after Tuesday’s practice, the franchise hadn’t revealed anything about his return beyond the date.

“We’re going to look at what’s best for him,” McMillan said Thursday about the team’s plans regarding whether Oladipo would travel on the long road trip. “If he can get the work he needs to get in with us on the road, then certainly he’ll come. But if we feel he can get more work here and possibly practice with the G League team, of course he’ll stay.”

Since mid-November when he returned to full-court five-on-five work, Oladipo has spent seven separate stints involving at least one practice with The Fort Wayne Mad Ants as part of his rehab process to give him extended practice opportunities either on game days or when the Pacers have held lighter days, which is becoming more frequent mid-season.

McMillan also said last week that he, the front office, Oladipo, his agent and the rest of his rehab team have been meeting once-a-week to discuss the approach to easing him back into the lineup at the proper time and in the safest manner. McMillan said Tuesday that after Monday’s meeting before the team’s 101-95 home win over the 76ers, the group has yet to decide whether Oladipo will start or come off the bench once he rejoins the Pacers on the court.

“That’ll come in another week or so,” he said.

McMillan also said last week that there hadn’t been any discussion about Oladipo returning to the court during a game with the Mad Ants before his Pacers’ return in two weeks. Malcolm Brogdon, who had previously missed eight of nine games with various ailments, explained post-game Monday that it took him into the second half against the 76ers to find a sense of rhythm with his game and teammates, adding that he’s only in “good” shape and “great” shape might take two or three games to find.

He’d last played a full NBA game on Dec. 22, compared to Oladipo’s layoff since his devastating injury Jan. 23 of last season.

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“He has to play,” said McMillan of Oladipo’s return to game-shape. “All of that will happen once he takes the floor and gets some games under his belt. There’s no way of getting into game-shape without him playing in some games.

“The NBA has changed the way they practice, and really, your hard practices end after training camp. … That’s going to have to come over the course of games, and I think that’s going to take him some games to catch up to where these guys are at. These guys are in the best shape they’re going to be in right now, players in the NBA, and he’ll be just taking the floor."

Email IndyStar motor sports reporter Nathan Brown at nlbrown@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter: @By_NathanBrown