The Indiana Pacers have made virtually all of their possible moves at this point in the offseason. The draft has been over for a long time. Kelly Oubre and Larry Nance Jr. have signed their deal and have been announced on social media. Even the new jerseys have already been posted and celebrated.
However, there are still two dominoes waiting to tumble, those being the last roster spot and the status of second-round pick Braden Smith.
Many had earmarked the last roster spot for summer league standout Jalen Slawson, but his return on a two-way contract means the all-important 15th player vacancy is still available. Could Indiana sign a free agent? Could they kick the tires on one of the remaining dart throws?
Well, the only thing holding that up is Braden Smith.
The Pacers traded Kam Jones and a future second-round pick to trade up for the Purdue Boilermakers guard, expecting him and Quenton Jackson to compete for the third-string point guard spot.
Despite being unsigned, Smith played in Las Vegas just earlier this month. Unfortunately for everyone involved, he played poorly as the Pacers went just 2-3 in a disappointing effort devoid of silver linings.
If Smith had simply played better, cutting one of Kobe Brown or Ethan Thompson to sign the diminutive guard would be fair. While those two players would be hard to part with, it would make sense to cycle in a new player.
However, both Brown and Thompson are likely still more valuable than a 5'10 point guard who cannot score, shoot, or defend.
So what should Indiana do?
The Braden Smith conundrum
The easiest answer to end this saga is to sign an outside free agent to that final contract, cut one of those two two-way players for Smith, and then hope that they are not vultured away by another team.
That would leave the Pacers with the vaguely better talent and eyes firmly pointed forward.
The insane option is for Indiana to cut bait on Smith already, giving up on the 38th overall pick, instead opting to keep their two-way guys in place. That will, however, definitely not happen.
The last, least interesting option is that the Pacers will keep that final spot free, saving it for either the buyout market or trade negotiations mid-season. In those situations, if a move is not made, one of the G-League guys (most likely Slawson) will get a standard deal.
None of these situations has a catastrophic worst-case scenario that would do real damage to the roster. At the very worst, the Pacers will have wasted an early second-rounder, but that is not an uncommon story.
The larger issue is not the move or its fallouts, but instead how long it is taking. Admittedly, just under half of the second-rounders from this past offseason are unsigned right now.
Braden Smith will be signed; it is a question of when, not if. But every move will come at a cost that is not worth the benefit of keeping a player like Braden Smith.
The Pacers are caught between a rock and a hard place here, and there's no easy way to escape.
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