Victor Oladipo‘s first three seasons in the NBA have been impressive. Career averages of 15.9 points, 4.4 rebounds and 4 assists per game suggest it’s only a matter of time before he’s an All-Star. Watching him play makes all that potential feel even more real—his game has all the makings of a versatile threat for years to come. The folks at Jordan Brand have taken notice, and they’re rewarding Oladipo with a sneaker. The Jordan Extra.Fly isn’t technically Vic’s signature line, but he’ll be the leading face of the sneaker, which is decked out with Nike Zoom Air cushioning, flywire and a unique training-sneaker silhouette. (If you were paying close attention at OKC’s media day, Vic was rocking the Extra.Fly already.) The Jordan Extra.Fly releases on October 1, with a $120 retail price tag. We caught up via phone quickly with the newest member of the Thunder to talk about the new kicks, which he says he “played in all summer.” SLAM: Was getting to be the face of a Jordan shoe something that the brand had talked to you about for a while?
Victor Oladipo: Kinda, sorta. The opportunity kinda just presented itself. Grateful and thankful for the opportunity. SLAM: How involved were you with the design?From the beginning they asked me what I looked for in a shoe. Also the colorways, what I wanted during the year. And what I wanted to do to try and improve the shoe. But it’s a great shoe. The great thing about the shoe is that it’s light, but it’s sturdy at the same time. I know a lot of guys wearing lowtops will question ankle support but that’s the great thing about the shoe, that it still has that lightness aspect of the shoe, but it supports your ankle as well. SLAM: For a basketball performance shoe, it looks a lot like a trainer. Were you surprised by the different aesthetic? VO: I like the way it looks. It throws you off a little bit, I like that. You can’t really tell if it’s a trainer or a basketball shoe, but that’s the uniqueness about it. SLAM: How is it to play in? VO: I’ve had great results.
I’ve been moving great. It’s got me moving faster and jumping higher than probably I’ve ever jumped. That all starts with how comfortable your feet are. SLAM: Now that you’re in OKC with Russell Westbrook, a fellow Jordan Brand athlete, are we going to see some new colorways this season? VO: Yeah, I’ve been thinking about some stuff. You might see some crazy colorways, some feathery colorways. SLAM: That dunk you had during the summer, the one where you hit a kid with a windmill? VO: It was my basketball camp that I have back home for some of the best high school players in the country. You know, he came in talking a lot of smack, asking if I would jump with him, that kinda stuff. I let him dunk on me, to build his confidence. I knew I was going to bang on him the whole week. Then I did it. I didn’t try to embarrass him or nothing. I just tried to, you know, teach him a little lesson. Photos courtesy of Jordan BrandVictor Oladipo signed a 4 year / $21,487,440 contract with the Orlando Magic, including $21,487,440 guaranteed, and an annual average salary of $5,371,860.
In 2016-17, Oladipo will earn a base salary of $6,552,960. Oladipo has a cap hit of $6,552,960 while his dead money value is $90,552,960. 4 yr(s) / $21,487,440 4 yr(s) / $85,000,000 To see the rest of the Victor Oladipo's contract information, plus gain access to all of Spotrac's Premium tools, sign up today. for technical foul during ORL-OKC game for technical foul during ORL-CHA game for technical foul during ORL-BKN game for technical foul during TOR-ORL gameJordan Brand Adds Three New Basketball Athletes Victor Oladipo, Otto Porter Jr and Cody Zeller become the newest members of the Jordan Brand Family. Today, Jordan Brand announced that Victor Oladipo, Otto Porter Jr. and Cody Zeller have all joined the Jordan family of athletes. All three will be in Jordan footwear to start the season. “We are excited to add Victor, Otto and Cody to the Jordan family,” said Michael Jordan. “As we continue to expand and improve our performance product, these young players will be a big part of our efforts around the game of basketball.”
Oladipo, drafted second overall in June’s draft, is an explosive 6'4" shooting guard who was named The Sporting News National Player of the Year in 2013. Oladipo capped off a stellar three-year collegiate career by averaging 10.7 points, 5.2 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.55 steals per game as a junior. The Maryland native wasn’t highly ranked coming out of high school, but displayed exceptional work ethic and determination in becoming one of the best basketball players in the nation. Porter, a silky smooth 6'7" small forward from Maryland, was selected third overall in the 2013 draft. In the Porter family, winning state basketball titles is a way of life. Otto won three titles as a prep star in high school and joined a club that includes his father, mother and several uncles and cousins. He completed his two-year college career by averaging 16.2 points, 7.5 rebounds and 1.8 steals per contest and was named conference Player of the Year. Porter was also a finalist for several National Player of the Year awards.
The Zeller family also has a serious basketball lineage. Cody, the youngest in the family, became the third member of his household to be named Mr. Basketball in the state of Indiana before being drafted fourth overall in June’s Draft. The 7'0" center averaged 16.5 points, 8.1 rebounds and 1.3 blocks in his second collegiate season. His performance earned him Conference Player of the Year honors as well as numerous All-America honors. All three athletes will start the season in JORDAN PRIME.In laying out a comparison for Victor Oladipo, we looked no further than the Indiana-Michigan State game in which ESPN broadcasters Magic Johnson and Dick Vitale lauded Oladipo as the next Michael Jordan.While Jordan’s NBA career was (insert adjective here), we focused on his statistics at North Carolina.Effective field goal percentage is a weighted number that accounts for all shots from the field. Specifically, made 3-pointers are worth more than two-pointers.And in this metric, Jordan had a very solid 55.3 effective field goal percentage.
His collegiate scoring was not other-worldly, in large part because the pace of the game was much slower in the early 1980s. As the shot clock and 3-point line were introduced, the game changed.But even so, Oladipo’s effective field goal percentage was slightly better than Jordan’s. Oladipo’s effective field goal percentage was 57 percent. Using effective field goal percentage in this comparison and others, we can predict that Oladipo will enter the NBA ready to become a very efficient scorer.Turnover percentage really separates the two players. Jordan took care of the ball well. In fact, he turned it over about a third less in college than Oladipo did.Rebound percentage favors Oladipo. His total rebound percentage of 14.1 percent was a couple of percentage points higher than Jordan’s.We measure free throws not only at what percentage a player shoots from the line, but how often he gets there. Oladipo’s rate was about 40 percent higher than Jordan’s.Defensively, there are some comparisons as well.
They blocked shots and got steals at the same rate. They both measured out as having wingspans about five inches longer than their height. Oladipo is listed at 6-foot-5.Oladipo compares very well to Jordan in terms of several efficiency stats and is worthy of a very high pick in this draft. His offensive numbers suggest that he will score efficiently in the NBA. His defensive metrics suggest he will be an above-average defensive player. Oladipo should make an enormous impact as a rookie and, based on our metrics, he should be considered a front-runner for rookie of the year.As for the Jordan comparison ... we’ve left out above a few important differences. For instance, Oladipo took only about 22 percent of Indiana’s shots when he was on the floor, whereas Jordan took almost 32 percent when he was at North Carolina. With fewer shots, Oladipo still turned the ball over more than Jordan, turning it over on 21 percent of his possessions. Jordan’s amazing ability to limit turnovers showed itself in college where he turned it over only on 14.5 percent of his possessions.