Projected depth chart for Pacers with Malcolm Brogdon, Jeremy Lamb
The Indiana Pacers have undeniably had a strange offseason, losing Darren Collison to early retirement and seeing other key players bolt to new teams.
For example, wing Bojan Bogdanovic is now on the Utah Jazz and veteran forward Thaddeus Young signed with the Chicago Bulls. The Pacers were able to replace Collison with Malcolm Brogdon, signed Jeremy Lamb after losing Bogdanovic, and they also snagged TJ Warren via trade right before the 2019 NBA Draft to help replace Young.
After adding Brogdon and Lamb during free agency to a core that already features Myles Turner and Domantas Sabonis among others, FanDuel SportsBook has their projected win total currently set at 46.5. That is nearly identical to the model from The BBall Index’s Jacob Goldstein.
On opening night, expect them to use a starting lineup featuring Brogdon-Lamb-Warren-Sabonis-Turner as they wait for their star Victor Oladipo to recover from his injury.
Once Oladipo is fully healthy and ready to return to action sometime near December, he would likely replace Lamb (who can then become their spark-plug scorer off the bench). Otherwise, they could use Sixth Man of the Year candidate Sabonis off the bench with Lamb and Warren as their two starting forwards.
After Wesley Matthews signed with the Milwaukee Bucks, they now have approximately $6.7 million in projected cap space. They will also have the room exception to use that is worth $4.67 million (via Early Bird Rights).
They gave a new, three-year deal to guard Edmond Sumner. Expect a new contract for a second-round draft pick Jarrell Brantley. Undrafted free agent Brian Bowen was signed to two-way deal after the 2019 NBA Draft.