Indiana Pacers: 50 greatest Pacers players [2023 update]
By Joe Lyon
2. Jermaine O’Neal
- 8 seasons, 514 games
- 18.6 points per game
- 9.6 rebounds per game
Perhaps it’s just recency bias, but Jermaine O’Neal might have been one of the most dominate Pacers players that most of us have seen. Six times he made the all-star team as a Pacer and 3 times was All-NBA. But that feels like it doesn’t tell the whole story. When O’Neal came from Portland, many didn’t realize the player the Pacers were about to get. Arguably the best player on the Pacers in the early 2000’s, O’Neal led a renaissance of the Pacers in the back half of Reggie’s career. Had it not been for the Malice at the Palace, the Pacers were poised as the best team in the NBA in 2004 -05 season and very well would have won the NBA title that year. Jermaine would make a few more all-star teams after that, but it always felt like that event really derailed his career. He would go on to play for multiple other NBA franchises, but never again saw the success that he had in Indiana.