The Indiana Pacers have a long history of great players. While they are one of the NBA teams that has never won an NBA title, that doesn't mean that they haven't had great players. In fact, the team does have one NBA Finals appearance. That was 24 years ago in 2000 when they lost in six games to the Lakers.
When trying to figure out who the best players are in Pacers history, it's not an easy task. One way is to look at advanced metrics. In this article, we will look at the seven greatest players listed by their Player Efficiency, or PER. These are being provided by Basketball Reference.
We start with number seven and he was a Pacer who was just in the news recently.
7. Jermaine O'Neal
Jermaine O'Neal is ranked seventh in career PER, checking in with a PER of 19.5. Part of what helps him rank so high is his shot-blocking. Until last week, he was the Pacers' all-time leader in blocked shots. Myles Turner passed him when they took on the Warriors.
O'Neal played eight seasons with the Pacers. During that time, he was a prolific scorer and rebounder as well. He averaged 18.6 points and 9.6 rebounds per game. He was an excellent post-player in an era where post-play still really mattered. O'Neal gathered a bunch of awards while playing in Indiana.
O'Neal was a seven-time All-Star in Indiana while also making All-NBA three times. He was Third-team All-NBA in 2001-02 and 2002-03 while being named Second-team All-NBA in 2003-04. He was on pace to do the same in 2004-05 before the Malice in the Palice.
Ultimately, that event will define his career. He was one of the main participants in the brawl in Detroit, along with Ron Artest. That event is what led to him being shipped out of Indiana in a trade that ended with Roy Hibbert heading to Indiana. He would go on to play with five other teams after his stop in Indiana. Of course, he started his career in Portland.
The next player on this list is not someone anyone would think about having a high PER.