Indiana Pacers: 10 best shooting guards in Indiana Pacers history

2. Freddie Lewis

After spending a year alongside Oscar Robertson in the NBA with the Cincinnati Royals, Freddie Lewis joined the Indiana Pacers of the ABA and quickly became a key component of their championship-level team.

Lewis, from 1968 through the team’s final ABA Championship year in 1973, averaged 17.8 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 4.1 assists per game. He was a high-IQ player and a key ingredient to Slick Leonard’s dynastical teams.

According to a site documenting the ABA’s history, Lewis was often the leader of come-from-behind victories and the player to take the necessary clutch shots. Lewis says he learned those skills and how to keep calm in crucial situations from Robertson in his one year as his teammate.

Lewis would likely have had a longer run with the Pacers had the team not fallen on financial hardship toward the end of their existence in the ABA. The Pacers traded Freddie Lewis in a deal that involved cash considerations, a transaction that was common for the team at the time as they looked to drum up cash to stay afloat. They “sold” plenty of their stars in the final years, a very sad way for one of the greatest basketball teams of all-time to lose its grip on its reign.

Lewis would return to the Pacers in the NBA for the final year of his career (and the team’s first year in the NBA) after floating around from team to team in the ABA. At that point, Lewis was well past his prime and simply a role player, but to have him there for the transition to a new league, still under the tutelage of Slick Leonard, he likely helped instill a sense of pride and a champion’s attitude.