Indiana Pacers: 3 players poised to make a leap next season
By Josh Wilson
The Indiana Pacers are primed for a big year as a unit next season, but what individual players are poised for steps forward?
The Indiana Pacers have had a positive 2019-20 season overall. As with any season, there have been highs and lows, but the Pacers came into this year with a star out with injury and roster that projected to have fit issues.
Instead, they posted the league’s seventh-best defense and held firmly in the middle of the Eastern Conference playoff standings race, despite Victor Oladipo appearing in just 13 games in which he was mainly finding his footing.
Next year projects to be even better, with the roster mostly healthy at the start of the year.
Several players took steps forward this season, but who is primed for a leap next year?
Domantas Sabonis
Of course, Domantas Sabonis took what may very well be the biggest leap of his career this season, but who is to say he can’t replicate that next year, too?
Sabonis has had an incredible year with the Pacers. The team had big shoes to fill with Victor Oladipo out for a good chunk of the season recovering from an injury, and Sabonis was the player to step up.
Welcomed into the Pacers starting lineup for the first time ever, Sabonis averaged 18.5 points, 12.4 rebounds, and 5.0 assists per game. He was the team’s best player by far, and was named to the All-Star game for the first time in his career.
What’s even scarier, Sabonis has room to grow.
He has a great offensive game, but when he’s forced to go to his right hand, he often fails. On the defensive end, Sabonis has a bad habit of fouling too much, especially when he’s frustrated.
Sabonis has the ceiling of the best center in the NBA. Though he was an All-Star this season, he was a reserve, and aiming for a starting spot would be a great goal.
Sabonis’s minutes — he played 34.8 per game this year — are unlikely to increase further. Instead, he needs to focus on refining his game and making even more out of the opportunity he receives.
Sabonis had an incredible season for the Pacers this year and is the dominating positive storyline, but he has room to take another step forward next season. Entering the prime athletic years of his career, this is no time to slow down.