Indiana Pacers season review: Aaron Holiday and his weird season

Aaron Holiday did not live up to his third-year expectations for the Indiana Pacers.

I had some high hopes for Aaron Holiday in his third season with the Indiana Pacers. He showed glimpses as a primary ball-handler off the bench with a dynamic skill set as a scorer that this team needed. I even went as far as to name Holiday a sleeper for the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year award prior to the season tipping off.

His lack of size was never really much of an issue as Holiday was a promising shot creator with the second unit. After he struggled to get going early in the season, his confidence went down the drain. Once that confidence came back, albeit, in small doses, Aaron Holiday was back to being that scoring threat we were accustomed to.

Aaron Holiday had a lot of ground to make up after his sluggish start and that led to him being reported in trade rumors pretty much all season up until the trade deadline. Despite his option being picked up before the season started, his future with the Pacers is up in the air.

T.J. McConnell was impressive as that bench leader and took minutes away from the young Holiday. The Pacers did not need to rely on a ball-dominant guard with clear limitations on defense and that left Holiday out of the rotation much more often than anyone expected.

With so many questions regarding the future of the team and Aaron Holiday, let’s dive into his 2020-21 campaign to assess how he performed when given his opportunity.