Indiana Pacers: 30 greatest players in franchise history

15. Vern Fleming

Like the aforementioned Jeff Foster, Vern Fleming is another guy that climbed this list partially due to his very long tenure with the team. Fleming played for the Pacers for all but one year of his 12 season career. Coming right out of the gates as a rookie, he quickly found himself in the starting lineup as a guard and made his presence known, dropping 14 points per game in his inaugural season.

His production scoring the ball more or less stalled from his rookie season on, but he found other ways to improve as he aged. He continued to shoot the ball better and better, and he developed some more useful playmaking and distribution skills as well.

Vern Fleming wasn’t incredibly flashy. He doesn’t have any awards of much magnitude to his name. He’s a player that many an NBA fan would never even recognize walking down the street. But for the Pacers, he was a guy that just put his head down and produced year after year for a long, long time.

No, he was never an All-Star like some of the guys that have already been mentioned on this list, but he stuck with the Indiana Pacers long term and made an impact for 11 whole seasons. There’s definitely something to be said about that.