Lance Stephenson is gone, but what’s next for the Indiana Pacers?

Lance Stephenson’s option, long felt safe, has been declined. Now what for him and the Indiana Pacers?

It was a peaceful Monday afternoon, a little past 3 in the afternoon, and then Yahoo’s Shams Charania doused some napalm on everything.

Lance Stephenson is gone.

Well, at least for the moment he is. But more on that in a little bit.

At present declining Stephenson’s option offers Indiana near maximum cap space, especially once Joe Young is released or moved and if Thad Young opts out. The Pacers aren’t real options for the biggest of free agent fish (LeBron et all), but Indiana is now very much alive in that second tier (Marcus Smart, Aaron Gordon, etc.).

If Indiana is honestly interested in Smart their odds of landing him just increased exponentially.

Of the teams listed in Jordan’s tweet the Mavericks, Bulls and Suns are each in various stages of a rebuild. The Suns might even be able to offer a starting spot.

But the Pacers can now offer a similar role that he had in Boston, plus a competitive salary. Smart believes that he is worth more than $14M. That’s a steep price. One the Pacers can now afford.

Basketball-wise, he would be an upgrade over Stephenson. They both bring energy but few guards are better defensively than Smart, Indiana already has one of them (Victor Oladipo) and just drafted the brother of another one (Aaron Holiday is the younger brother of the Pelicans’ Jrue). Smart isn’t far off. Offensively Smart is no wizard, but he does shoot better from deep than Stephenson (Smart was 30% and Stephenson was 29%).

The difference is that while Smart would endure himself to Pacers fans with his hard-nosed play, he will never replicate the intimate connection that Indiana had with its beloved jester. He would regularly receive the second largest ovation on the team, a level of affection that will be nearly impossible to replicate.

Likewise for the emotional swings he would provide, Lance shifted momentum into the Pacers favor just by taking off his warm-ups, even if his wild passes threatened to whisk that gained momentum away.

There are other wings that might have been too pricey for Indiana, but no longer are. Indiana has reported interest in Tyreke Evans of Memphis and Will Barton of Denver, and Chicago’s restricted free agent Zach LaVine. Brooklyn’s Joe Harris would be another player Indy could look at.

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They will have to bring somebody in, Holiday likely isn’t expected to play big minutes.

Another option would be…Lance Stephenson. Just because Stephenson is now a free agent, doesn’t mean that Indiana couldn’t bring him back on a veteran’s minimum or a long-term deal with less money.

It’s unlikely that any team will offer Stephenson the full mid-level exception.

And judging by Stephenson relative lack of success outside Indiana, he might be on the market for a while, where the Pacers and Pacers fans would welcome him back.

But that would be then, sometime in a future where team and player continue an improbably joyful tenure together.

Next: Pacers decline Stephenson's option

But that would be then, sometime in a future where team and player continue an improbably joyful tenure together. For now, The Pacers will move on without Stephenson, and aim at free agency with a significant amount of money to spend.