Indiana Pacers: 4 realistic free agents to target with the MLE

Alec Burks could be a quality shot creator and shooter for the Indiana Pacers

The Indiana Pacers have a dearth of reliable shot creators in the second unit, aside from the oft-injured Jeremy Lamb. While Doug McDermott made huge strides scoring the basketball, the bulk of his offense stems from being a favorite target of the team’s playmakers, especially Domantas Sabonis and TJ McConnell. An eye-popping 84.5 percent of his made field goals in the past season were all assisted.

Enter Alec Burks. The 10-year veteran continued his mini-resurrection with the New York Knicks this season, injecting some much-needed secondary scoring and perimeter offense for his defensive-minded squad as a critical piece off the bench for Tom Thibodeau. In a healthy 25.6 minutes per game, Burks logged 12.7 points per contest, highlighted by an impressive 41.5 percent clip from downtown on good volume.

More so, Burks is not a defensive liability. With a switchable 6’6 frame, he’s long and quick enough to latch onto different players. However, the elephant in the room for targeting him is for his scoring and marksmanship, especially with Rick Carlisle favoring a perimeter-oriented offense and McDermott, the team’s most dangerous gunner, likely pricing himself out of Indiana’s range.