The Indiana Pacers have quite a few players that are going to be free agents. They have already decided to bring back Pascal Siakam on a max deal. He was their first priority heading into free agency, and he should have been after they gave up all of that draft capital to get him in a trade.
Obi Toppin is another player that the Pacers are possibly going to bring back. He was a key member of the bench this past year and had the best year of his career. It makes sense that they would want to bring him back next year depending on the price that they can get him at.
There is one player that they are not even considering bringing back from this past year. He was brought in via trade in the middle of the year. He ended up not playing a big part in the team's run. That player is small forward Doug McDermott, who is now a free agent.
The Pacers aren't considering bringing back Doug McDermott
McDermott was brought in after the Pacers traded away Buddy Hield. McDermott was supposed to help with shooting off the bench. Unfortunately, McDermott was not healthy for very long when he got to Indiana. After that, he wasn't very effective when he was out there on the floor.
The Pacers elected not to have McDermott as part of their regular playoff rotation. That's not surprising based on what Rick Carlisle saw from him. Now, he's a free agent. He's not in the plans for Indiana to keep. They won't be offering him a new contract.
This isn't a loss for them. He's not a good defender, he's 32 years old, and he has not shot the ball well while he was with the team. The Pacers need to have better defenders on the team, not worse ones. It makes sense why they wouldn't bring him back.
It'll be interesting to see where he ends up in free agency.