Indiana Pacers: 3 best and worst transactions in team history

Worst: Signing Tyreke Evans

On July 3, 2018, the Pacers made one of the worst signings in franchise history when they added sixth-man Tyreke Evans on a one year deal. At the time, the fans seemed happy with the signing as Evans had a resurgence in his career during the previous season.

Unfortunately, for the Pacers, the former Rookie of the Year never fit correctly with the team on the court. He had to have the ball in his hands which kept other players, like Doug McDermott, from succeeding. Not only did he need to have the ball in his hands, but he could not score even when he had it. He missed more layups than I ever thought was capable in the NBA.

On top of that, he was suspended early in the season for violating team rules by being late to practice.

He shot 38.9 percent from the floor in his one season for the Pacers. Not exactly what you are looking for in the first man off the bench. He averaged 10.2 points and 2.4 assists per game for the blue and gold. Both of those were career lows. In the playoffs, he averaged 15.3 points per game and showed enough on the national stage that some “experts” thought the Pacers should re-sign him.

Fans, however, had seen too much of Evans and wanted nothing more to do with him. Fans would not need to worry about the Pacers re-signing Evans though. Shortly after the season was over, Evans was banned from the NBA for at least two seasons for violating the league’s anti-drug policy.