Happy birthday Kevin Pritchard: his five best moves with the Pacers
By Ryan Eggers
Signing Bojan Bogdanovic to a 2-year, $21-million deal
In the midst of the off-season, when fans first knew that Paul George would no longer be an NBA Pacer, Pritchard had some serious work on his hands. Filling out the roster after trading George was no easy task, so he had to find value where he could.
Bogdanovic was always an elite shooter, but hadn’t done much of anything in his tenures with the Brooklyn Nets and Washington Wizards. He couldn’t defend most wings, either. Why give him $21-million over two seasons?
But then his Pacers career began. We got the Bogey Game. Bogdanovic was actually holding his own guarding LeBron James in the playoffs, and he was scoring lights out on the other end. He shot 40%+ from deep for the first time in his career, and then did it again the next season at an even more elite percentage (42.5).
He took over as a primary scorer when Oladipo went down with a knee injury, and finished last year at a career-high 18 points and 4.1 boards a game. He played so well that he became too expensive for the Pacers to retain, as his tenure earned him a 4-year, $73 million deal with the Utah Jazz this summer.
In an era that originally looked like darker days, Bogdanovic was one of the many bright spots that led to the light of the past two seasons. He earned a great contract, and he leaves behind plenty of happy memories for all Pacers fans. And at $10.5 million a year for those two wonderful seasons?
Pritchard did it again.