The Indiana Pacers are finished with the 2024 NBA Draft. They had three second-round picks that they used, and they did use all of them. Surprisingly, they decided to make three selections. Whether they sign all of them remains to be seen. The final two players were taken in back-to-back picks.
After selecting Johnny Furphy with the 36th pick, the Pacers decided to take a guard and wing with their final two draft picks. Indiana took Tristen Newton with the 49th pick and took Enrique Freeman with the 50th pick. Both players have played a lot of college basketball.
Newton played on back-to-back national championship teams with UConn. He is a solid rebounder as a guard as he averaged almost seven rebounds a game. His outside shot needs some work as he only shot 32% from beyond the arc last season. He seems like a G-Leauge player to me.
Freeman was selected out of Akron. He played five years for the Zips and shot an absurd 63% from the field in his career. He averaged 18.6 points per game in his final year and also had almost 13 rebounds a game as well. Freeman shot it at 37% from three in limited attempts.
The Pacers likely won't sign either player to an NBA deal
Indiana will likely either not sign these guys at all or give them two-way deals. Neither of them is good enough to play NBA basketball right now. Besides, the Pacers' rotation is tough to crack. If they did sign one of them to an NBA deal, they'd be benchwarmers.
Of the two, Newton has the better chance to make an NBA roster at some point. He's a good defender and works hard on the glass. Frankly, he's just a hard-worker who played for a winning program and a coach that does a great job developing players.
Indiana opted not to draft Bronny James and force the Lakers to give something up for him. Instead, they drafted two guys who won't make a meaningful impact anytime soon.