Well, I’ll be darned: Lance Stephenson is back with the Pacers.
What a quirky twist to this mostly mundane and underwhelming season. At the very last moment with a playoff spot increasingly becoming in jeopardy and after an embarrassing loss at home to the lottery-bound Minnesota Timberwolves, Lance, the prodigal son, returns.
Not that he ever should have left.
Lance’s 2014 departure was arguably the dumbest free agent decision in the history of free agency.
Most terrible free agent decisions are the team’s fault. One of the most disastrous was when the Seattle Sonics, desperate for a 7-footer, offered the immortal Jim McIlvaine and his career 278 points and 6 starts a 7-year, $33.6 million contract. The contract incensed Hall of Famer Shawn Kemp, who quickly signed the first deal out of town. The franchise moved to Oklahoma City 11 years later.
But Lance’s free agent choice was different. He was handed a five-year, $44 million contract to continue being the starting shooting guard and primary sparkplug on a back-to-back Conference runner-up Pacers team. He turned it down for less money and less security to play for the much less-talented Charlotte Hornets. Then, like a vagabond catching a ride in an empty train car, Lance meandered across America finding occasional work in Los Angeles, Memphis, New Orleans and Minnesota.
That long sojourn has led him back to the crossroads.
For the Pacers, this is a low-risk, potentially high-reward deal. The Pacers signed him to a team-friendly three-year contract with the last year being a team option. He’s basically replacing the waived Rodney Stuckey, who hasn’t lived up to the expectations he set for himself after an impressive debut season with Indiana.
Stuckey averaged 13 points, 3 assists while shooting 44 percent from the field over 71 games in 2014-15. Since then, injuries and the presence of Monta Ellis limited his productivity in 2015-16 (9 ppg, 2 apg, 41%, 58 games) and this year (7 ppg, 2 apg, 37%, 39 games).
Stuckey would have also been able to accept a $7 million player option for next season. Stephenson will be a sharp decrease from that cap hit.
While it was always anyone’s guess about what Stephenson was going to do on the court, now it’s even more of an unknown. Will being back in Indiana and under Larry Bird’s watchful eye rejuvenate Stephenson? Or is he too damaged from his recent wayward ways to be productive? It’s going to be a mystery.
But maybe Lance’s biggest addition will have nothing to do with the amount of stats he can put up over the next month.
What’s become very obvious this season is the Pacers were missing some ethereal quality. They have been great in bursts, attacking on offense, swarming on defense; but they have also been lethargic and lifeless at times. They haven’t had the fire to battle every play.
It’s a shame, because the Pacers have a lot of nice guys. Maybe they were just too nice. The Pacers lack a guy with spunk, who brings energy, especially when things weren’t going great.
Maybe that’s what Lance can bring. Some fire. Some edge. The ability to lean next to the greatest player in the world and brazenly blow in his ear. Pacers fans will never know exactly what they’ll get from Lance on the court, but they’ll know that he’ll bring it with passion.
