The free agent point guard market has intrigued and confused the NBA media for several weeks now. Instead of shelling out for a top-tier guy, the Pacers might be wise to look a little further down the list of point guards.
The Indiana Pacers will have some money to spend in free agency this summer once Paul George is off the books and even more if things with Jeff Teague don’t work out. Despite the intrigue and stealth-tank potential of point Lance, the team should probably explore the market for point guards.
Our excellent writer Luke Parrish already discussed some marquee point guards the Pacers could look at once midnight hits, but this year’s crop of free agents is unusually large, and there are several cheaper options that Indiana could target instead.
By saving money on a point guard, the Pacers could preserve some cap room and be one of the only teams in the league that still has space going into the season. They could use that to their advantage by taking on other teams’ bad contracts in exchange for precious assets that would speed the rebuild along.
Since Lance Stephenson is apparently taking on some point guard duties anyway and the Pacers won’t really be that competitive this year regardless, there’s not much point in spending more than you need to. These four guys would likely do their jobs just fine.