With a well-rounded roster with two-way prowess coming off an impressive fourth place finish last season, Indiana Pacers fans were confident that the team can soar to greater heights this season. However, with key players being injured for long stretches and causing lineup instability leading to inconsistencies, the Navy and Gold have failed to meet expectations so far.
Help eventually came in the form of Oshae Brissett, who quickly proved to be another bargain signing by GM Kevin Pritchard. Initially inked on a 10-day contract, the assortment of injuries hounding the team opened the doors for the second-year forward, netting him more minutes which he maximized with fiery two-way play. This led to the Indiana Pacers brass rewarding him with a three-year deal.
Brissett bringing great value to undermanned Indiana Pacers
Brissett’s numbers so far have been very good. In 23.3 minutes per game, the sophomore is tallying 10.1 points on 47.5/41.5/77.3 shooting splits, 5.7 rebounds and an eye-popping 1.1 blocks per contest, even though he stands at 6-foot-7. As a starter though, those figures jump to 13.6 points, 8.4 boards and 1.6 swats per game, per Basketball Reference.
Though Oshae is operating in a compromised role given the Indiana Pacers’ season-long exhaustive injury reports, his admirable play makes him deserving of a big role even when the team is at full strength. His smooth three-point stroke and physical defense makes him the ideal 3-and-D player to compliment the team’s army of scorers.
That being said, his sudden uptick in production may affect how the front office maneuvers around their assets, with heightened offseason activity a great possibility. Be it dangling big names for to move up in the draft or securing players who bring better fits to the roster, Brissett’s versatility and flexibility figure to make the Indiana Pacers less hesitant in pulling the trigger in possible deals.
Here are three players to monitor who can be on the move with Oshae Brissett’s ascent.
TJ Warren, SF
Last season’s leading scorer for the Indiana Pacers and All-Seeding Games First Team member TJ Warren was expected to lead the team in scoring for the second straight season. After a slow start to the season, the small forward only managed to play in four games before being held out indefinitely, then subsequently for the entire season with a left foot stress fracture.
At his best, Warren is an explosive shot creator who can easily get to his spots and is potent everywhere on the floor. Last season , he averaged 19.8 points per game on a staggering 53.6/40.3/81.9 efficiency. Those numbers jumped to a mind boggling 31 points per contest on monstrous 57.8/52.4/88.9 shooting splits in six bubble games to lead the Pacers to the fourth seed before ultimately bowing down to Miami.
While not ideal, the 27 year-old scorer is entering the last year of a 4-year contract he signed in Phoenix before arriving in the Circle City. With teams projected to try to pry him away from Indiana, the Pacers may be wise to seek for draft compensation or fitting role players with more controllable contracts in exchange if he is not keen on returning to avoid losing him for nothing.
Scoring, which is primarily Warren’s niche and specialty, is not a weakness of this Pacers team when healthy. With three players who can easily average more than 20 in Domantas Sabonis, Malcolm Brogdon and Caris Levert, dealing him away may be more tolerable and justified, especially with Oshae Brissett and Justin Holiday bringing consistent 3-and-D play in the forward spots.
Teams to watch: Dallas, Denver, Minnesota
Myles Turner, C
The longest-tenured Pacer in the squad once again finds himself at the core of trade speculations, a motif that persists as the world still spins and the sky remains blue.
A Defensive Player of the Year candidate, Myles Turner is once again proving why he is the world’s best shot blocker and one of the best deterrents at the rim. Leading the league with 3.4 blocks per game, his defense has singlehandedly won games for the Navy and Gold.
However, with him and Sabonis forming a two-big punch atypical in today’s game, pundits and fans alike are clamoring for the Indiana Pacers brass to break up the tandem and fully embrace small ball in light of the team’s struggles this season.
While the numbers imply that the Pacers are better with Turner on the floor compared to Sabonis, the latter is already a two-time All-Star with still-untapped potential at 24 years of age. And in a league that is swiftly favoring offense over defense, Domas’ nightly triple-double threat and skillset to be the main cog in the team’s attack may trump Myles’ brilliance on the less glamorous end of the floor.
If the front office makes Turner available, which they have indicated on multiple occasions, he will be a hot commodity around the league. His unique mix of defensive excellence, mobility and perimeter stroke will easily fit with a lot of teams as a hot commodity. The revelation of Oshae Brissett on defense as a wonderful help defender swatting shots and a rugged one-on-one stopper gives the team more cushion to make trading Myles more reasonable than ever before.
Teams to watch: New Orleans, Boston, San Antonio, Los Angeles
Most likely to be traded by the Indiana Pacers – Jeremy Lamb, SG
The eight-year veteran successfully recovered from a disgruntling ACL injury that forced him to be sidelined for the latter half of last season. With his steady hands and efficiency on offense, the swingman was projected to lead the second unit in scoring, to which he has done on a lot of occasions.
In 36 games played in the present campaign, Jeremy Lamb is averaging a consistent 10.1 points per contest on 43.5/40.6/94.7 splits, the latter two of which are career-highs. However, he has seen his minutes plummet from 28.1 last season to only 21.3 this year. This may be partly due to the coaching staff intending to streamline his role coming off a major injury, but there is no doubt that his absence is felt a lot smaller with the emergence of LeVert and Edmond Sumner.
Also, TJ McConnell and Holiday are playing heavy minutes even when the squad is healthy, thus his decreasing role. To avoid losing Lamb for nothing as he enters the last year of his contract, the Pacers crop will almost certainly test the waters for the veteran scorer.
Since signing a three-year deal in 2019, J-Lamb has done nothing but remain professional and consistent donning the Navy and Gold. However, a lot of players are ripe to leapfrog him in the rotation, most notably Sumner and Brissett and Indiana still seems to be high on Aaron Holiday. And simply tethering him on the bench will be a disservice and a wasted opportunity to net some assets in return for him.
Jeremy Lamb’s reasonable salary and instant production will help a lot of teams needing backcourt scoring, especially on the bench. Look for Jeremy Lamb to be included in a deal if the Indiana Pacers attempt to be a key player and bring some much-needed steam in the offseason.
Teams to watch: Philadelphia, Phoenix, Atlanta, New York