Pacers alumni: We miss Bojan Bogdanovic quite a bit

Former Pacers wing Bojan Bogdanovic is having a great season as a starter with the Jazz

Bojan Bogdanovic was incredible for the Indiana Pacers last season.

He averaged 18.0 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 2.0 assists per game. His greatest attribute was his shooting, where he converted on 49.7 percent of his shots from the field and 42.5 percent from beyond the arc.

He was due for a solid payday.

He would get one, signing a four-year $73 million contract with the Jazz this summer. While it would have been great for the Pacers to retain him, an average annual value of $18.55 million for Bogdanovic is a bit steep given that the Pacers had a pricy Domantas Sabonis extension on the horizon.

The Pacers also need to keep their books open for a desired Victor Oladipo contract in the summer of 2021, too.

Money aside, the play of Bogdanovic is sorely missed. Though his defense wasn’t the best, it was workable and better than what Doug McDermott can offer on that end of the floor. Bogdanovic was an equally good shooter to McDermott and didn’t give up as many points on the defensive end, making him all-around more of a playable piece.

The Pacers had the option to try and trade him at the deadline last year and gain assets before he left for nothing. I’d argue they should have done that, especially since his impending payday was obvious.

Others argue that treating players like Bogdanovic right in their final days with the team, even if advantageous to asset hunt for the final months of their services maintains relationships with player agents and reputations among future free agents. For a small-market team, that player-first mentality can help secure free agent meetings down the line.

This season, Bogdanovic is helping propel the Utah Jazz in their quest for a winning season in the highly competitive Western Conference.

In 63 games, Bogdanovic is averaging 20.2 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 2.1 assists per game, shooting 44.7 percent from the field and 41.4 percent from the 3-point line. He was set up for a huge stretch prior to the season being put on hold.

In many ways, Utah is Pacers West. They have a ball-dominant shooting guard, an incredible rim protector, and play a slow pace. They aren’t top-10 in the league in threes attempted. Sound familiar?

While not directly parallel to the Pacers, the Jazz are a similar basketball team. Bogdanovic plays into this team’s success to a high level, sitting at third this season in win shares.

Though it’s an unlikely matchup, a Pacers-Jazz NBA Finals series would be quite fun. Heck, if the NBA gets weird with how they choose to finish this unprecedented season and eliminates conference barriers, maybe we can still see some postseason play between the two.