What Should the Indiana Pacers do with their rotation players?
By Tony East
Lance Stephenson: What version of Lance will the Pacers get?
There were a lot of highlights in the 2016-2017 Pacers season, however many fans will tell you their favorite moment of the entire season was not a basketball play at all, but rather reacquiring Lance Stephenson. Lance was a fan favorite on the conference finals teams from a half decade ago, and has since played for a handful of NBA teams.
Now, thanks to the waiving of Rodney Stuckey, he is back in a Pacers uniform. On March 29, the Pacers inked Lance to a 3 year, $12,540,000 contract, with the last year a team option.
It’s hard to truly analyze how well Lance played with the Pacers at the end of the season. Sure his stats look good, over 50% shooting from three and 4 rebounds per game, but it’s a small sample size so no conclusions can be drawn from it.
The eye test would tell you that Lance often sparks energy into the team when he comes on the court, but the small sample size makes it hard to trust the stats.
Stephenson only has one more guaranteed season, and only at $4,180,000. That number is probably a good representation of what his production will be. It is unknown if Stephenson will start or not for the Pacers this year, but it likely he has a prominent spot in the rotation, so this contract works out great for the Pacers.
If Lance plays great, the Pacers have him all season on a cheap contract and with a team option, which they would accept in this hypothetical, thus meaning the Pacers have 2 more seasons of a productive and cheap Stephenson.
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If Stephenson doesn’t play well, he will fall out of the rotation this year behind Monta and Glenn and then the Pacers will let him go. In this hypothetical, they only have to deal with his salary for one more season, and then they can decline his team option and have him off the roster. Lance has a favorable contract for the Pacers, so let’s hope he produces at a level that makes him worth a roster spot.