Jalen Slawson is one of the best developmental stories the Indiana Pacers have had in a long time. While he's no Andrew Nembhard, he has saved his career after being cut by both the Sacramento Kings and the Orlando Magic, and is starting to become a real NBA player.
Slawson was one of the breakout young guys of summer league. He averaged over 20 points per game, and while the Pacers were not very good in Las Vegas, it was impressive to see the way Slawson attacked the rim and shot off the dribble.
Unfortunately for Jalen, though, that is not what he will be asked to do this year for the Pacers.
Instead, the team will expect him to play hard defense, rebound the ball, run in transition, and hit shots created for him by others. Preseason might be the first opportunity we get to see him in that role. While that might be worrying to some, it also holds great promise.
Breakout players mean breakout teams
The fastest way for a team to take a big step forward is by finding a difference-maker on a dirt-cheap contract. Every single championship team has had these excess-value, minimum-salary guys.
The New York Knicks had Jose Alvarado. The Denver Nuggets had Bruce Brown. The Boston Celtics had Sam Hauser and Payton Pritchard. Having great talent is important, but teams are defined as much by their best players as they are by the extent of their playable depth. Heck, the Toronto Raptors had too many of these guys to count.
If you look at the Pacers roster, Slawson is arguably the best person for that job. Jalen is on a two-way contract that was signed after that breakout summer league and is making pennies on the dollar compared to the equal cost that a two-way wing on the open market would require.
If the Pacers could find their fourth forward in the rotation behind Kelly Oubre Jr., Andrew Nembhard, and Aaron Nesmith on a cheap contract, then their rotation has more depth than it might seem.
Some may earmark Jarace Walker or Ben Sheppard for that same role, but both 2023 draft picks have proven very little to really make that belief possible.
At least Slawson has played well recently. He and Quenton Jackson have shown far more on the court than those two aforementioned first-round picks. Draft capital invested shouldn't matter to a team that wants to win a title. Slawson and Jackson deserve their chance because they've earned it, not because they were handed it.
Maybe it's too optimistic to put this much on the plate of a player who was recently in the G League, but preseason will open the door to some interesting conversations if Slawson can prove to be more than just a three-month-long hype story.
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