The Pacers aren’t a free agent destination for most and so it is hard to find many times that the Pacers made major missteps in free agency. Many times the issues that they have in free agency are small issues in depth pickups or players that are late in their career and aren’t expected to do much anymore.
But there have been a few times the Pacers have made a major mistake in free agency and in this article, we look at some of the bigger mistakes the Pacers have made over the years.
7. Chris Copeland
Chris Copeland lit up the Pacers in a playoff series for the Pacers to sign him the next year to a 2 year 6 million dollar contract. In return for that contract Copeland averaged the following numbers:
5.1 points on 39% shooting in 91 games
And while at face value that doesn’t seem so bad, there were high expectations for Copeland after the playoff success he had with the Knicks. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a flash in the pan and Copeland never really had any success for the rest of his career (was a fan favorite though!).
6. Al Jefferson
So I know what you are thinking, Al Jefferson wasn’t that bad of a pickup? But you would be wrong, it ended up being a waste of money in a lot of ways.
Al Jefferson was an excellent player throughout his career, with his best years coming in Charlotte where he averaged nearly 18 points a game over 3 seasons. Thus, when the Pacers picked him up after his time in Charlotte it seemed likely that he could continue some amount of production in Indiana. However, over his two years in Indy he averaged 8 points in 102 games.
There are some arguments to be made that the signing was needed for veteran presence in the locker room, however, the net result seemed to be lackluster at best. While some will disagree with this ranking, the Pacers would have likely been better off if Jefferson was never signed (mostly because of the money he ultimately cost the team).
5. Sam Young
Sam Young is a player that many readers may not even remember. Prior to being added by the Pacers for their Eastern Conference Finals runs, Young played a few seasons in Memphis and Philadelphia. The hope was that Young could come in and provide depth to a Pacers team at the wing position to make some playoff runs.
In his time with the Indiana Pacers, Sam Young averaged:
2.8 points and 2.2 rebounds in 12 minutes in 56 games.
Ultimately, Sam Young never quite accomplished much of anything while with the Pacers. And while he was a worse player than others on this list, because he wasn’t an expensive free agent it’s hard to put him higher on the list for the worst free agent signings ever.
Nevertheless, Young was a disappointment in the time he did step onto the court for the Pacers.
4. Mark West
Mark West had a long NBA career, but was certainly a journeyman playing for Dallas, Milwaukee, Cleveland (2x), Phoenix (2x), Detroit, Atlanta, and Indiana. So needless to say he didn’t stick around anywhere for very long. However, Indiana paid for the biggest decline in his career.
Prior to arriving in Indiana, West was playing for Cleveland and even in limited minutes played 70 games and shot 56% from the floor that year. All signs seemed to indicate he would be a good piece to pick up for depth during playoff runs for the Pacers.
However, once he got to Indiana, he only was able to play in 15 games and shots 48% average 1.5 points. Ultimately the signing was a total failure and West was on his way to Atlanta the following season.
3. Tyreke Evans
There was certainly some hype when the Indiana Pacers were able to sign Tyreke Evans prior to the 2018-19 seasons. Tyreke had won the Rookie of the Year award earlier in his career and was generally seen as a player that had underperformed due to lack of opportunity within a good franchise, having wasted much of his career with the struggling Sacramento Kings franchise.
The hope was that he would provide valuable depth to a Pacers team as well as some amount of microwave scoring for the Pacers off the bench. Unfortunately, when he came to the Pacers his numbers immediately dropped, with his points scored nearly dwindling to half of their former numbers in just one season, as well as a significant drop in his shooting percentage.
To cap the whole thing off, Tyrese was suspended after the season for failing a non-performance drug test for two whole years, effectively ending his tenure with the Pacers as well as his career.
2. Terry Mills
He played so few games for Indiana we couldn’t even find a picture of him in a Pacers uniform (hence the court picture above). Terry Mills was a longtime player in the NBA, and his final stop was in Indiana. In his prime, Mills averaged over 17 points a season for the Detroit Pistons during the 90s. However, when he was traded to Indiana this was decidedly not the case.
Prior to the 2000-2001 season, the Pacers brought in Mills for additional depth at the power forward position. He played in 14 (14!) games and averaged: 1.8 points in 8 minutes. Which is about the same as saying that the Pacers signed a player in free agency and never played him, because that is essentially what happened.
1. Monta Ellis
Prior to coming to the Pacers, Monta had averaged over 18 points per game for his career. He was an offensive talent that seemed to be the perfect kind of piece to bring additional offense to a Pacers team that could definitely use it at times. However, the Pacers quickly found out that this was not going to be the case in Indiana.
For the Pacers, Monta averaged the following: 11 points per game in 30 minutes per game……
He was getting nearly as many minutes as he got everywhere else in his career but was offensively just not the same player as he was earlier in his career.
The icing on the cake? The Pacers had to stretch his contract when he was waived, and they paid him for an additional 5 seasons and he only came off of the Pacers books after the 2021-2022 season.
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