Indiana Pacers: 5 takeaways from 2017-18 NBA season

3. Free agents in the air

If the Pacers defined themselves this year as a smart, unselfish, hard-working team that played basketball (cue Hubie Brown voice) “the right way,” no two players exemplified this ethos more than Myles Turner and Darren Collison.

Neither Turner nor Collison will ever be mistaken for an All-Star, borderline All-Star, or even guys who get the cursory “You know, that guy should really be getting more consideration for the All-Star Game” treatment from announcers. What they are is consistent. They won’t win you games by themselves, but they won’t lose you games either, and after Oladipo’s brilliance, they were as big a reason for the Pacers’ success this season as anyone.

As luck would have it, neither is guaranteed to be wearing an Indiana uniform at the beginning of next year.

For Thaddeus Young, the decision will be his and his alone. He has a player option for the 2018-19 season where he is due to make $13.7 million. It’s highly unlikely he gets that much in annual salary on the open market, at least not on a multiyear deal. That being said, Young will turn 30 in June and this might be as good an opportunity for a long-term payday as any.

As for Collison, only $2 million of his $10 million salary for next season is guaranteed. Throw in the fact that backup point guard Cory Joseph has a player option of his own for $7.9 million and that only $4 million of Professor Al Jefferson‘s $10 million salary for next year is guaranteed, and it’s fair to say that Indiana has as many balls in the air as any team in the league.

On one hand, they could be looking at having a max salary slot to dangle in July. On the other, they could just wind up bringing the band back together and keeping the powder dry for next summer.

For an organization that values consistency as much as any, it’s safe to assume that major changes will not be in the offing.