The Indiana Pacers couldn’t quite pull out Game 7 of the NBA Finals.
But the Pacers wouldn’t even have gone the distance in the series, not to say nothing of having a chance to win it all, if they didn’t have T.J. McConnell.
On a night of bad Indiana news after the Game 7 defeat, there’s one bit of good news:
The Pacers have McConnell under contract for multiple years still.
This was the first year of a four-year, $44.8 million contract signed by McConnell.
In 2025-26, it pays McConnell $11 million in cap hit, followed by $11.8 million in both 2027-28 and 2028-29 (club option).
The Pacers don’t even have to do anything for the next couple years as far as McConnell is concerned. They made what looks now like a brilliant decision to extend him.
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The big lingering news after the Finals came from those Pacers, where Tyrese Haliburton sustained what is being speculated as an Achilles tear. If that’s the outcome, it keeps Haliburton out for essentially all of next season.
McConnell has never really been a full-time starter, but barring an Indiana change, that’s what he’s looking at with Haliburton out.
And at a cost of about $11 million per year for the next three years, McConnell seems like quite the bargain for the Pacers.
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