8 points, 9 seconds
Fansided

What Should the Indiana Pacers do with their fringe players?

By Tony East

Dec 12, 2016; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Indiana Pacers bench reacts to the Pacers scoring a three point basket against the Charlotte Hornets at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 12, 2016; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Indiana Pacers bench reacts to the Pacers scoring a three point basket against the Charlotte Hornets at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
5 of 6
Next
Aaron Brooks
Jan 16, 2017; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Indiana Pacers guard Aaron Brooks (00) shoots the ball over New Orleans Pelicans forward Terrence Jones (9) in the second half of the game at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. The Indiana Pacers beat New Orleans Pelicans 98-95.Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports /

Aaron Brooks: It was fun while it lasted

Aaron Brooks was signed on a 1 year deal worth 2.7 million dollars by the Pacers last summer to be Jeff Teagues backup point guard. Brooks was fine in that role, continuing to be pretty average on offense while being pretty bad on defense.

Brooks has been that type of player his whole career. His career-best DPBM is -1.5. He is a decent shooter and distributor, but below league average. He probably a high-end rotation guard at best for whatever team he is on. Next season, who knows what team that will be.

Brooks in a non-bird free agent for the Pacers, meaning if they Pacers are over the cap they can re-sign him for up to 120% of his 2.7 million dollar salary from last season. His cap hold is $3,240,000, meaning he counts for that value against the Pacers cap room until they re-sign him or until they renounce  his non-bird rights.

If you read the Joe Young part above, you know that the point guard market is saturated. Aaron Brooks is pretty close to the bottom of the points guards who belong in the NBA list. He could be useful as a 5th or even 6th (injury assurance, essentially) guard. But that guard has a contract value close to the minimum.

The Pacers could bring Brooks back for the minimum next season, but they could use his non-bird rights to sign him to a longer deal. Expect the Pacers to keep Brooks cap hold on the books for a short amount of time, but they only reason they would keep Brooks long-term is if the Pacers run out of future flexibility and strike out on essentially every free agent point guard out there. Brooks time with the Pacers has probably come to an end.

Home/Pacers Free Agency