The Indiana Pacers have reportedly locked up their guard rotation for the foreseeable future as they signed backup T.J. McConnell to a four-year, $45-million extension, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski on Friday.
McConnell, 32, is entering his 10th year in the league after making his debut in 2015 as an undrafted rookie. He spent the first four years of his career with the Philadelphia 76ers before joining the Pacers for the next five.
In the 2023-24 season, McConnell averaged a career-high 10.2 points and 5.5 assists through 18.2 minutes a game in 71 appearances while knocking down 40.9 per cent of his three-pointers.
The six-foot-one guard upped that production in the post-season as his scoring mark ticked up to 11.8 points per game as he and the Pacers made a surprise run to the conference finals before getting swept by the eventual champion Boston Celtics.
Meanwhile, McConnell has been one of the league’s most reliable contributors as he’s rarely missed any time. Throughout his career, he’s only played fewer than 70 games in a season twice.
He’ll now run it back with backcourt mates Tyrese Haliburton and Andrew Nembhard, supporting the young guards as a veteran backup. All three of whom are now locked into long-term deals with Indiana.
Haliburton, 24, signed a five-year, rookie-scale max extension last offseason that could be worth up to $260 million. Meanwhile, after a breakout playoff campaign in 2024, the Pacers inked Nembhard, 24, (an Aurora, Ont. native) to a three-year, $59 million extension.
The McConnell and Nembhard deals were part of a busy offseason for Indiana who started things by signing forward Pascal Siakam to a four-year, $189 million contract after having acquired him from the Toronto Raptors mid-way through the season.
Indiana also brought back RFA and reserve forward Obi Toppin on a four-year, $60 million deal.
With its core locked in, the Pacers will try to build upon their 47-win season, their best record since the 2019-2020 campaign which was also the last time they made the playoffs before last season. Indiana’s breakout year also saw it advance beyond the first round of the post-season for the first time in a decade.
from Sportsnet.ca
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