Indiana Pacers: 4 threats to pry Doug McDermott away from the team
The Indiana Pacers have their own array of questions to answer in the offseason. While they have already answered one by firing head coach Nate Bjorkgren after a turbulent year, roster decisions are starting to loom largely on the front office.
While the Blue and Gold is currently set on the starting lineup, two key rotation players are entering free agency: TJ McConnell and Doug McDermott. Both had career-years in the previous campaign and will certainly be interesting commodities who can each plug in instant impact to team in need of playmaking and scoring. Indiana would be better served keeping both, but the two players are legitimate flight risks.
Will the Indiana Pacers break the bank for Doug McDermott?
In this piece, we’ll focus on McDermott. The 6’7 sniper has been one of the standouts for the Pacers in this underachieving year. Tabbed for his biggest role yet after the season-ending injury to TJ Warren, the seven-year veteran managed to respond by tallying career-highs in points with 13.6 per game on a wildly efficient 53.2 percent shooting from the field in just 24.5 minutes. His three-ball slightly declined, but he still cashed in 38.8 percent of his triples.
He’s not much of a defender, but Dougie can but the ball in the hoop in a multitude of ways. He’s one of the league’s best cutters. Among all players who took more than 10 percent of their shots through cuts, McDermott was sixth in points per possession with an eye-popping 1.57. His prowess as a shooter is no secret, but he can also fire away from virtually everywhere on the floor. Among all qualified forwards, he ranked 9th in effective field goal percentage, tied with… Zion Williamson.
Teams in need of scoring, especially shooting, will come calling for the services of the Creighton product. That being said, he won’t be cheap, especially with players like him netting booming contracts in recent years. The Indiana Pacers have his Bird rights, meaning they can go over the cap to re-sign him, but the franchise has historically avoided the luxury tax. Thus, which teams are threats to pry him away from the Circle City?