Indiana Pacers: How has Lance Stephenson performed this season in Indiana?

Lance Stephenson signed a rest-of-season contract with the Indiana Pacers, who are in a down year with a record of 20-40 going into All-Star weekend.

Stephenson joined the team right at the beginning of 2022 and signed a slew of 10-day contracts with the team, initially due to COVID-19 going through the team.

Lance blew fans away in his first game back in what is now Gainbridge Fieldhouse, where he scored a whopping 30 points, 20 of which came in the first quarter.

The Indiana Pacers decided to waive guard Kelan Martin to create a roster spot for Lance which led to his rest-of-season deal with the team. How has he been since that point a few weeks ago?

Stephenson has been somewhat hot and cold with his scoring output since becoming a Pacer for the third time in his NBA career. He has played in 24 games with Indiana and has been a starter for just one of those games.

Some might have thought that with the Brogdon and McConnell injuries, putting Lance at point guard in the starting lineup would be a wise choice, as he has been a better facilitator as of late.

With the trade to LeVert, that seemed like a no-brainer. However, nobody expected the drastic roster shakeup that would involve a trade to Indiana’s star Domantas Sabonis for Tyrese Haliburton. That changed a lot for the team’s future and its rotations for the season.

Stephenson is averaging the second-most points per game in any of his Pacers tenures at 10.0 points per game and 4.1 assists.

His best season with the team was in 2013-14 where he averaged 13.8 points per game.

Stephenson thrives in the pick and roll where he can get downhill to the rim, so the trade with Sabonis certainly weakened that dynamic due to how good Sabonis was in that roll game.

However, he is still creative in his ability to see the floor in transition. Although Tristan Thompson has been waived from the Pacers, the two were able to connect a few times in last night’s game against Washington.

Stephenson has had two or more assists in his last 13 games, even scoring as many as 10 versus the Hornets a few weeks ago.

Although he has provided a spark off the bench and brought some excitement back to Indiana in a down season, his shooting has been off the mark.

Stephenson has not been the best shooter from behind the arc throughout his career – shooting 31.1%. However, since joining the Indiana Pacers he has only shot above his career mark in 7 of his 24 games played. He is 15 of 58 from behind the three-point line.

He has still been effective from the field and getting to the rim is what he likes to do best – averaging 46.3%.

Three-point shooting isn’t his specialty, but in the Rick Carlisle offense, there are more times than not he is open and Lance doesn’t shy away from letting it fly.

He is still a scorer nonetheless. In fact, he has had 10 games where he scored 10 or more points, including a season-high 30 points in the home opener for him this year.

Lance will remain in a Pacers uniform for the rest of the season and then will be an unrestricted free agent.