Indiana Pacers power forward/center Domantas Sabonis is a beast. But you'd already know that if you watched Pacers basketball with any type of regularity this season. He is a 6-foot-11 blend of deft passing touch, rebounding dominance and aggression on the offensive end of the court that appears to have been created specifically for the 2019 version of professional basketball.

Currently hampered by an ankle injury, Sabonis' third NBA season has been his best. At still just 22 years old, Sabonis has become a bench ace for an Indiana squad closing in on a playoff berth. Entering play Sunday, he has averaged 14.3 points and 9.3 rebounds per game, having collected 24 double-doubles in 59 games.

To say that there isn't room for even more upward mobility would be a gross understatement, since in the five opportunities he has been given to start this year, Sabonis has averaged 18.4 points and 11.6 rebounds per game.

All of this has led many to put Sabonis in the race for both the NBA's Sixth Man of the Year Award and the league's Most Improved Player. He'll have stiff competition in both fields — namely the Clippers' Lou Williams in the Sixth Man race and the Raptors' Pascal Siakam in the Most Improved race — but the fact that he is considered a finalist to take home if not one, but potentially both of those honors, shows how strong of a season he's had and just how many folks have recognized.

But plenty of guys put up numbers, it's the NBA. An indicator of how strong his offensive game has been is his placement among the league's best as it pertains to shooting percentage. Currently sixth in the league at 61 percent overall, Sabonis sits behind five players who have an overwhelming majority of their shots coming from directly at the rim. Of course, Sabonis uses this to his benefit as well, but he has also shown a soft shooting touch, which has helped him go 8-for-14 from three-point range this year.

Shooting was not Sabonis' strong suit when he arrived as a rookie with the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2016-17. Selected with the 11th overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft out of Gonzaga University by the Orlando Magic, he was promptly swapped in exchange for big man Serge Ibaka, giving the Thunder a new shiny lottery pick to slot into their rotation.

Unfortunately, whether it was the Thunder's call or Sabonis', he tried to play like the man he was replacing, firing up an average of 2.0 three-point attempts per game. While he hit 51 triples as a rookie, he shot 32.1 percent from long range.

Starting 66 games in the NBA as a rookie is no small feat, so it's not to say that Oklahoma City didn't have confidence in the son of NBA Hall of Famer Arvydas Sabonis. But when the opportunity came knocking to add All-NBA star Paul George to the mix, suddenly Sabonis became expendable. Traded alongside Victor Oladipo, in a deal that was lauded at the time as a criminal underpay for a talent the caliber of George's, the deal looks quite a bit more equal years out, even as George ascends to an MVP-level talent.

As opposed to standing on the floor while Russell Westbrook creates offense, Sabonis now fills the role of bench leader for a group that elects to start Thaddeus Young and Myles Turner in the frontcourt, a decision that has currently spurred the team to the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference playoff picture. Sabonis got a taste of the postseason last year, averaging 12.4 points and 4.6 rebounds per game, but it's not hard to see how it could be different this year with more on his plate.

After playing 84 percent of his minutes at power forward during his rookie year with the Thunder, which cratered his rebounding totals, Sabonis has seen 79 percent of his minutes at center in 2018-19. It's a testament to the modern NBA that despite playing at center, he has shot 42.9 percent on shots from 16-feet to the three-point line, while also excelling from 3-to-10-feet to the tune of 49 percent. Translation: He's not just a dunker, but an ass-kicker on the boards that has a diversified offensive arsenal.

As the Thunder learned during Sabonis' lone season with the franchise, you need depth to win in the playoffs. Indiana, despite losing Oladipo for the season due to a ruptured right quad, still boasts a deep rotation of talent. Sabonis and Turner haven't made magic happen when on the court simultaneously, but that's not entirely the point; Sabonis has excelled this season playing alongside Tyreke Evans, Doug McDermott and Cory Joseph, a group that helps make up Indiana's second unit.

While starters and three-point shooting may get the publicity, Sabonis is learning in his third year that sometimes it's the gritty workers and efficient performers that get the wins.