Indiana Pacers: Grading the franchise’s last 4 drafts

Indiana Pacers 2020 Draft

First-round selection: N/A (traded for Malcolm Brogdon)

Second-round selection: Cassius Stanley

The jury is still out a bit on this one as Cassius Stanley was Indiana’s only rookie selection in 2020 after they traded their first-round pick as part of the deal to bring in Malcolm Brogdon the summer prior.

Stanley did not see the floor much in his first season and when he did, it did not go very well. The freakish athlete out of Duke really struggled to knock down his shots, even at the G-League site. He was nothing but a garbage time minute filler with a lot of athleticism in the backcourt.

Indiana has plenty of bodies in the backcourt that are capable of minutes and Cassius found that out the hard way last season. Even with injuries to Caris LeVert, Malcolm Brogdon, and Jeremy Lamb throughout the season, Stanley was still buried on the depth chart with no real shot at playing time.

Draft grade: C

Malcolm Brogdon was a great addition when considering the value that would be included in a late-first-round draft pick but not enough to make up for the lack of impact from the actual draft class. Brogdon’s future in Indiana may very well be in question and the Pacers have nothing to show for it up to this point.

Stanley could still develop into a decent rotation player, which we’ve seen from second-round picks in Indiana recently, but he has a long way to go in order to prove himself.