3 Players the Indiana Pacers shouldn’t have given up on
By Joe Lyon
No. 3: Duane Washington Jr.
Duane Washington Jr. was a fantastic player in college at Ohio State, although that excitement did not translate to draft night. He went undrafted and was later signed to a two-way contract by the Indiana Pacers. Luckily for Duane, the Pacers season took a turn for the worse with injuries and trading away stars, and thus got a lot of playing time during his rookie season.
He played in 48 games, starting 7 of them, and averaged nearly 10 points a game. He displayed decent 3 point percentage and looked to potentially be a good rotation player for the Pacers.
However, in the summer of 2022 the Pacers waived Washington in order to sign restricted free agent Deandre Ayton to an offer sheet. The Phoenix matched the offer, the Pacers ended up without both Ayton and Washington on the roster.
There was speculation that Washington would get re-signed by the Pacers if he cleared waivers, but that apparently was not what the Pacers were aiming for. Instead, Washington signed with Phoenix prior to the 22-23 season. He has appeared in 14 games so far averaging about the same point production per minute as he did with the Pacers.
While the jury is still out on how big of a loss this will be, Washington appears to be a serviceable shooting guard that can play in an NBA rotation.