How The Indiana Pacers 2022 Offseason Moves Look After One Season

The Indiana Pacers 2022 offseason was a unique one. The team had a top-10 pick for the first time in decades and had a ton of cap space to go with it. They also had a player they were looking to trade, a young big man they had limitations on re-signing, and much more to consider.

Now roughly 10 months later, Indiana just wrapped up a season in which they exceeded expectations in both the win-loss column and in terms of development. Many of the moves made in the 2022 offseason played a part in that, though so did the growth of All-Star guard Tyrese Haliburton.

Looking back at the Pacers hits and misses from last summer one-by-one can be informative about what the team could decide to do going forward.

Drafting Bennedict Mathurin (sixth overall), Andrew Nembhard (31st overall), and Kendall Brown (48th overall)

The Pacers nailed the draft last year.

Mathurin, who they picked sixth overall, just finished fourth in rookie of the year voting, and his skillset is extremely unique for a first-year player. He can already get to the foul line better than established NBA players — his .477 free throw rate ranked 13th in the NBA, percentage points behind Luka Doncic and ahead of Damian Lillard.

Mathurin still has a long way to go in other areas, such as his playmaking and team defense. But his scoring is advanced for a player of his experience level, and he will be a valuable part of Indiana’s next steps.

Nembhard, meanwhile, has a shot to make one of the All-Rookie teams despite being picked in the second round. In late March, Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle noted that he felt like Nembhard should have been a top-10 pick.

“Indiana was the best place for me. Gave me a great opportunity. I’m blessed that that happened,” Nembhard said of getting picked by the team. He averaged 9.5 points and 4.5 assists per game, but it was his defense and composure that stood out throughout the season. In the games that he got more touches due to injuries elsewhere, he shined as a ball handler and had improved stats.

Brown proved that he can be a defensive weapon in the G League and had flashes at the NBA level. Injuries derailed his first season, but he looks promising considering where he was drafted, and it would make good sense for the blue and gold to bring him back for a second season.

The first step of the Pacers 2022 offseason was the draft, and they had a nearly perfect night.

Trading Malcolm Brogdon for Aaron Nesmith, Daniel Theis, salary filler, and the 29th overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft

Malcolm Brogdon couldn’t be traded during the 2021-22 season after he signed a contract extension just before the campaign. But once the Pacers acquired Haliburton at the trade deadline and shipped away other key veterans, the writing was on the wall that a move was coming.

Brogdon was dealt to the Boston Celtics for Aaron Nesmith, Daniel Theis, three minimum salary players as filler, and a 2023 first-round draft pick that will be 29th overall.

Originally, it looked like an underwhelming return. At his best, Brogdon averaged over 21 points per game for the blue and gold, and his defense, shooting, and playmaking combination is rare in the league. He won Sixth Man of the Year this season for a reason.

But Nesmith turned out to be just what the Pacers needed. His defense and average outside shooting ability made him Indiana’s best wing option for much of the season, and he looks like a versatile perimeter threat that Carlisle can utilize on defense for years to come.

Theis missed much of the season but showed he can still play when healthy. Perhaps the Pacers could get something for him down the line. The 29th pick has value as well.

Indiana does have some dead money on the books as the result of this trade and some corresponding waivers, which will be discussed later. But given that Brogdon was taking minutes and touches from Haliburton, needed to be moved, and was coming off of three injury-filled seasons, Indiana did well to get what they did for him.

Re-signing Jalen Smith

The Pacers had some contractual hurdles to re-sign Jalen Smith. They couldn’t exceed a value just under $4.7 million in the first year, but other NBA teams could sign Smith to whatever deal they pleased.

In the end, Indiana inked Smith to a three-year deal starting at that value with a player option on the third season of the deal. That option, combined with promising Smith a starting spot at power forward to open the season, were useful tools for the Pacers in negotiating since they could only offer so much money.

Re-signing Smith felt significant given how strong he closed the 2021-22 campaign, when he averaged 13.4 points per game in 22 appearances for the Pacers. But his outside shot escaped him, and the young big man didn’t fit well at power forward. His first full season with the blue and gold was rocky.

“I’m just not hitting this year,” Smith said of his three ball late in the season. “Obviously, last year when I got traded, I damn near didn’t miss.”

Smith’s contract looks much less like a win than it did when it was signed. But he proved down the stretch that he is perhaps Indiana’s best backup center option going forward — he averaged 10.5 points per game after the All-Star break. If anything, Smith’s deal is a caution toward negotiating with players who have a small sample of success, but the 23-year old is still more than worth the contract he signed.

Signing James Johnson

The Pacers signed Johnson to be a veteran leader for the young roster, and he did exactly that. His teammates raved about his value to the locker room all season long, and Indiana re-signed Johnson after waiving him at the trade deadline for good reason — they needed him.

If anything, Indiana learned how important sage vets can be from Johnson. The franchise will have to decide whether or not to bring him back next season, but they will need to find leadership elsewhere if they let him walk.

Waiving Duane Washington, Malik Fitts, Nik Stauskas, and Juwan Morgan

In order to sign restricted free agent Deandre Ayton to an offer sheet, the Pacers had to waive four players to clear cap space. Washington had a non-guaranteed contract, but Fitts, Stuaskas, and Morgan had some salary guaranteed to facilitate the Brogdon trade mentioned above. As a result, their cap hits were stretched over three years to clear the space needed to ink Ayton.

In the end, the Phoenix Suns matched Indiana’s offer and kept Ayton. The Pacers lost Washington, who spent his rookie season with the franchise, as well as the other three players.

Washington had a down year after signing with the Suns for his second season while none of the stretched players played a regular season game for any team. Waiving them was fine for the Pacers, who wouldn’t have had a role for any of the four guys. But the long term cap hits for Stauskas, Fitts, and Morgan will hurt, even if they are small.

Indiana wasn’t sure what their chances were of actually getting Ayton. They knew that it wasn’t high, but they took a risk anyway. Not ending up with Ayton on a max deal may work out in the end, but the blue and gold will have to deal with the stretched cap hits until the end of 2025.

Signing Trevelin Queen

Indiana inked guard Trevelin Queen to a two-way deal during training camp after he was let go by the Philadelphia 76ers. The 2022 G League MVP was signed to provide a boost to the Pacers G League affiliate club, the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, while contributing to the NBA team when needed.

Queen averaged 3.0 points and 2.4 rebounds per game this season with the Pacers and was nearly a 23-point per game scorer with the Mad Ants. But his season was cut short when he was suspended for Fort Wayne’s playoff game due the use of threatening language toward a game official. While it isn’t known if these events are related, Queen was waived soon after.

The 26-year old is talented but didn’t leave the imprint the Pacers hoped he would.

Picking up Oshae Brissett’s team option

The Pacers picked up a team option in Oshae Brissett’s contract last offseason, bringing him back for the minimum salary for 2022-23.

That seems like a no brainer move. He’s talented and young. But had the Pacers declined the team option, they could have made Brissett a restricted free agent and negotiated a new, longer deal with him last summer. Now, he’ll be an unrestricted free agent and could leave in the offseason of 2023.

Brissett is a low-mistakes player, but his shooting accuracy was poor this past season. He was on the fringes of Indiana’s rotation all season long. Him leaving may not change the Pacers long-term outlook much, but for a team that was perceived to be rebuilding last summer, it was interesting to see how they handled keeping Brissett or letting him negotiate a new deal.

That could telegraph how the team feels about him ahead of a possible contract extension and free agency. Given how few roster spots Indiana has going forward, it may be tricky for Brissett to remain a Pacer, and the team’s decision to pick up his option and evaluate him a little longer may prove correct.

All in all, Indiana’s major moves from the 2022 offseason were great while some of the smaller moves weren’t as successful. This year, armed with another lottery pick, salary cap space, and the option to give Haliburton an extension, the team has many significant decisions to make. They’ll hope to nail them once again.