The Indiana Pacers took the NBA by storm last season. It started with their run in the In-Season Tournament, which put them firmly on the radar. They carried that momentum into the postseason where, after trading for Toronto's Pascal Siakam, the Pacers made a run to the Eastern Conference Finals.
Indiana returns roughly the same team next year, but could stand to make a couple more additions to round out their roster. Talen Horton-Tucker and Dennis Smith Jr. are a few free agents the Pacers should target.
Rebuilding the Iowa State connection
The Pacers are chalk full of quality guards. Not only are they led by their All-NBA star in Tyrese Haliburton, but players like Andrew Nembhard, TJ McConnell, and Ben Sheppard all had big moments in their playoff run too. That's before mentioning Bennedict Mathurin, who did not even play in the postseason for the playoffs because of injury.
Indiana missed Mathurin's slashing and physicality in the playoffs, as they don't really have another player who plays like him. The Pacers can remedy that by going after current free agent Talen Horton-Tucker. Horton-Tucker has shown flashes of being a dynamic scorer with the Los Angeles Lakers and Utah Jazz, but hasn't yet put it all together.
What he can do, however, is score and provide defensive versatility. Horton-Tucker averages 16.8 points per-36 minutes for his career thanks to his ability to punish smaller defenders and attack the basket. His lack of a consistent jump shot has prevented him from taking the next step in his career, but that wouldn't be as much of an issue in Indiana, who has shooting all over the floor.
It also can't help that Horton-Tucker already knows how to play with Haliburton. The two were teammates in college at Iowa State during the 2018-19 season. That familiarity should help Horton-Tucker's case and could make him an attractive free agent for the Pacers to target.
A Dennis Smith Jr. reunion
Speaking of familiarity, getting someone on the cheap who knows head coach Rick Carlisle's system would be a solid idea for Indiana. A player who fits that bill to a tee is Dennis Smith Jr. The guard was drafted ninth overall by the Dallas Mavericks in 2017 while Carlisle was in charge. He got dealt a year later as part of the trade that landed Dallas Kristaps Porzingis from the New York Knicks.
It's been a rough go of it for Smith Jr. since then. He has bounced around the league, playing for five different teams in the last four seasons. But along the way he found the perfect niche for himself as a player. Smith Jr. has turned himself into one of the best perimeter defenders in the entire NBA.
Smith Jr.'s defensive prowess would actually be welcomed in Indiana. They struggled mightily on that end of the floor last season. The Pacers had a defensive rating of 117.6 according to NBA.com. That was easily the worst mark of any playoff team. The teams who eclipsed that number were those who tanked to the bottom of the league.
The hiccup with Smith Jr.'s game is his jumper. He's a sub-30% three-point shooter for his career and made just 29.4% of his threes last season. A better percentage would see him making eight figures annually with how well he can defend.
Indiana can work around that, however. They play five-out with Myles Turner's ability to stretch the floor at the center spot. Their pace of play and Haliburton's playmaking can help them avoid half-court sets where Smith Jr.'s lack of a jumper makes him a liability. He's a great target for the Pacers, who should give Smith Jr. a call before the free agent finds a home.
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