Ever since he left Philadelphia for Indiana, T.J. McConnell has been a perpetually underrated cornerstone of the Pacers' bench. Despite being undersized in a league that is continuously getting bigger and stronger, McConnell has continued to produce.
He may not be a good shooter, but he manages to score under the rim and within the arc while being an absolutely tenacious defender and disruptor.
He's also 34 years old now. There needs to be a conversation about a succession plan for the point guard who personified two eras of Pacers basketball, whether that plan comes about through trade or the simple passage of time.
Pacers need a backup plan for T.J. McConnell
While his success and longevity have put the problem on the back burner, the Pacers still have no path to replace the only member of their team on the verge of ending his career.
If the approach is to simply hope Indiana wins a title before it becomes a problem, there is already an example of that going wrong.
The Minnesota Timberwolves waited too long to get a replacement for Mike Conley Jr., found themselves forced into a trade-up for draft bust Rob Dillingham, and then had to trade their whole forward rotation for LaMelo Ball, all while spending two years with no playable point guard options.
That move may well work out for them in time, but the compounding mistakes slowly pulled the Wolves from being real contenders to a retooling team with no picks.
Additionally, it is obviously easier to find a backup guard than a starter, and having both Tyrese Haliburton and Andrew Nembhard makes things less urgent. However, it remains a need, one that has been ignored.
Addressing the unaddressed and solving the worry
The Pacers front office has signaled that one of Braden Smith or Quenton Jackson will be the third-string point guard behind McConnell next season. Logically speaking, the player who wins that battle will become the second-string option after T.J.'s departure.
The issue with that thesis, however, is that neither has proven capable of becoming an NBA player. Heck, one of them still isn't technically on the roster yet. It just seems unrealistic for options on the fringes of the league who have shown very little to become key players on a team that claims to be a contender.
There certainly doesn't seem to be an option internally, so the question then turns to what free agents are potential fits.
The Pacers have one standard roster spot left to fill and $2.24 million in space below the first apron.
The option that makes the most sense is Brandon Williams. The 26-year-old former Dallas Mavericks guard is still sitting in free agency after an under-the-radar year running the second unit until the Mavs began to tank.
Williams shares many similarities with McConnell. He is also a discarded, undersized guard who is good at basketball. He would add both a succession plan and a "break glass in case of emergency" option.
After the injury-riddled season Indiana just had, it makes sense to have real depth.
Needs are typically not immediate. They build up slowly, years down the line. They are easy to see, but too often ignored as tomorrow's problem. The Pacers' roster is in a good place, but that should not prevent the front office from improving it as soon as possible.
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