Mark Montieth: Almost-fab five never reached potential

The NBA world seems to agree: The Pacers are on the right track and ready to roll.

They have a nucleus of young, athletic players around an all-star point guard in whom they have invested a $260 million contract, anchored inside by a veteran shot-blocking center who can score when needed.

It’s widely believed to be their most promising collection of talent since the team that advanced to the conference finals in 2013 and 2014, one capable of pulling the franchise out of the muck of a nine-year drought in which it failed to qualify for the playoffs four times and lost in the first round the other five.

But what if I told you that’s wrong? What if I told you the Pacers had a starting five just a few years ago that also was poised for major success, with even more promise than the current group? One that won 75% of the games in which it managed to gather for the opening tipoff. One that might still be playing together today if not for an onslaught of injuries. One that deserves to be recognized before the memory of it dissolves into the ether, forgotten forever.

It’s a mystery team for the ages, a what-could-have-been collection that, for mere talent, ranks with the best in the Pacers’ NBA history. It was a flash in the pan that turned to fool’s gold, but it left behind a reminder of how difficult it is to piece together a powerful team, whether on a basketball court or in any other workplace, and how fate has a way of intervening and ruining everything.

It also left a warning for the current team and its fans. No matter how promising the future might appear, a lot can go wrong. Doesn’t mean it will. But so many things are out of the control of both management and performers.

Consider these five players, four of whom were lottery picks in their respective drafts and all of whom in one season or another averaged at least 18 points per game for the Pacers.

Domantas Sabonis: Voted to the NBA’s all-star team each of the past three seasons. He led the league in rebounding last season with Sacramento and has accumulated 33 career triple-doubles. He recently signed a $217 million contract, so his employer thinks awfully highly of him.

Victor Oladipo: A two-time NBA all-star selection. In his peak (aka most recent healthy) season, he was voted the league’s Most Improved Player, led it in steals, was a first-team all-defense pick and a third-team all-NBA choice. Before the NBA, he was the national college player of the year at Indiana University and the No. 2 pick in the draft.

Malcolm Brogdon: Voted Rookie of the Year with Milwaukee and Sixth Man of the Year last season with Boston. He was a first-team All-America selection as a senior at Virginia and voted the best defender in the country by one group. He qualified for the elite 50-40-90 club one season in Milwaukee, hitting better than 50% of his field-goal attempts, 40% of his 3-point shots and 90% of his free throws in a season. He has been awarded the league’s citizenship award as well.

T.J. Warren: Averaged 19.8 points one season, hitting 54% of his field-goal attempts and 40% of his 3-pointers. He scored 53 points in a regular-season game and followed with 34, 32 and 39 in three of the next four games—hitting 66% of his shots in those four games. Went on to average 20 points in a first-round playoff series. Was the Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year and a second-team All-American in his second (and final) college season.

Myles Turner: Has twice led the NBA in blocked shots but can score as well. He’s had a 40-point game in each of the previous two seasons. He averaged 18 points on 55% field-goal shooting last season, including 37% of his 3-point attempts. He was a consensus high school All-American.

That group covered every angle of the stat sheet. All five could score. Four of them have single-game highs of 40 points or more. Brogdon, the exception, has a career high of 36 points (in a 37-minute appearance). Three of them have been honored for their defense. None has been guilty of attitude or character concerns. And they all happened to be in the sweet spots of their careers when they first joined forces—none older than 28 and all playing in at least their fourth season.

Quinn Buckner, the Pacers’ television analyst, saw it up close.

“It was a group that, as I talked to many of my colleagues and coaches around the league, they really liked the collection of talent. I saw the same thing.

“It was a formidable lineup. You had guys who could score it, rebound it and worked well defensively.”

Promising spurt

Talent, youth, experience, maturity, offensive defense. With all that going for them, they could have been a great team, right? And they appeared headed in that direction.

For a while.

Well, a little while, anyway.

As fate would dictate, they started only eight games together—five in the 2019-2020 season under coach Nate McMillan and three the following season under McMillan’s replacement, Nate Bjorkgren. Despite their lack of familiarity and being plagued by some health problems, they still won six—and essentially gave away the two losses.

Launch date was Feb. 10, 2020, in the 54th game of the season. Oladipo, who had played the previous six games off the bench after returning from a grueling rehab necessitated by a quadricep tear the previous season, was finally put into the starting lineup although he still was consigned to limited minutes—27 in this instance—as he worked his way back into shape and sanded off the rust from his yearlong layoff. The Pacers lost that game by one point to Brooklyn, allowing a game-winning basket on a difficult shot with 3.8 seconds left and failing to execute on their final possession.

They followed with a 118-111 victory over Milwaukee and a 106-98 win at New York. Oladipo sat out the next two games with a swollen knee, then rejoined the lineup for two more victories: 106-100 over Portland and 113-104 at Cleveland.

That victory lifted the melding quintet’s record to 4-1 and displayed the many weapons at its disposal. Warren led the scoring with 30 points, hitting 14 of 20 shots, including eight in a row down the stretch. He also had six assists. Brogdon had 22 points and eight assists. Oladipo, limited to 29 minutes, had 19 points and three steals. Sabonis, as he did so often, teased a triple-double with 18 points, 13 rebounds and nine assists. Turner got off just nine shots but finished with 10 points, 10 rebounds and four blocked shots, and he hit the game-clinching 3-pointer—just as he had done in the previous game against Portland.

“I think we’re finally starting to get used to each other,” Oladipo said afterward.

Sputtering out

Which made it a lousy time for them to have to break up. Oladipo sat out the next two games with a swollen right knee. When he returned, Brogdon and Warren were out with new injuries. Warren returned after one missed game, but Brogdon remained out through the final game before the pandemic forced postponement of the season on March 10.

When play resumed on Aug. 1 in the “bubble” in Orlando, where all the NBA teams gathered to complete the regular season and playoffs, Sabonis was lost because of plantar fasciitis. The Pacers still won nine of their final 12 regular-season games but were swept out of the playoffs by Miami, and McMillan was fired because his conservative offense failed to exploit the team’s talent.

The starting lineup was reunited the following season under Bjorkgren. With today’s hindsight, a solid argument could be made that Bjorkgren would still be coaching the Pacers if the team could have stayed together. Although Warren missed most of training camp and the preseason games because of his lingering foot problems, and Turner missed the final two preseason games with a concussion, and Oladipo still wasn’t at full strength, they dominated New York, 121-107, in the season opener and followed with a 125-106 win at Chicago.

Oladipo sat out the next game—a victory over Boston—then returned for the ill-fated group’s farewell appearance on Dec. 29, a 116-111 loss to Boston in which the team squandered a 17-point third-quarter lead.

And that was that. Warren was then lost for the rest of the season because of a fractured bone in his foot that kept him out of action until December 2022. By then, he was playing for Brooklyn. Oladipo, seeking a generous contract the Pacers wisely weren’t willing to give to an injury-prone player, was traded in January. Despite his team’s fast start, Bjorkgren was fired after just one season. Sabonis was traded during the following season and Brogdon the following summer.

Dispersed far and wide

Today, the Pacers’ Forgotten Five—aka Rehab Five—are scattered throughout the country, pieces from a puzzle that had fit together so well.

Oladipo has played in Houston and Miami since leaving the Pacers and was traded to Oklahoma City earlier this month. He played in only 42 games last season before another injury kept him out of the playoffs—and that was the most games he’s played since his breakthrough season of 2017-2018 in Indiana.

Warren has played in Brooklyn and Phoenix, a shell of his former self, and is now a free agent. Like Oladipo, his future is in doubt because of recurring injuries.

Brogdon won sixth-man honors last season with the Celtics but once again battled injuries. He played just 15 minutes total over the final three playoff games. He was included in a trade to the Clippers earlier this month, but it was called off at the last hour because the Clippers were concerned about his injury history. His status in Boston remains uncertain.

Only Turner and Sabonis can claim stability in their career. For now, anyway.

“The one thing you can’t count on in this league is health,” Buckner said. “It’s the nature of the business that we’re in; health is always an issue. But I really liked that team. It had a chance to make some noise, as they say. When teams don’t want to play against you, you have something going.

“That’s all you can do in this business, give yourself a chance.”

We’ll never know what would have happened if ligaments, tendons and bones had held up better. But any group that won six of eight games while still getting acquainted and nowhere near optimum health had a chance to be special. Memorable even, for Pacers fans at least. Instead, they’re like a television show that was canceled after a few episodes despite encouraging performances and positive reviews.

It’s safe to say there won’t ever be a reunion for this group. But if there is, only one location makes sense: the training area at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, where injuries are treated.

They will know how to find it.•

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Montieth, an Indianapolis native, is a longtime newspaper reporter and freelance writer. He is the author of three books: “Passion Play: Coach Gene Keady and the Purdue Boilermakers,” “Reborn: The Pacers and the Return of Pro Basketball to Indianapolis,” and “Extra Innings: My Life in Baseball,” with former Indianapolis Indians President Max Schumacher.