The Pacers want to run a more dynamic up-tempo offense, and that meant changing point guards.
They traded for their starter in Jeff Teague, and now they’ve signed a backup in Aaron Brooks.
Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports:
Free agent guard Aaron Brooks has agreed to a one-year, $2.5 million deal with Indiana, signing this week, league sources tell The Vertical.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) July 18, 2016
This would fit into the $2,898,000 room exception. So, the Pacers will probably wait to make the deal official, using the rest of their cap space first. Renegotiating and extending Teague’s contract appears to be a priority.
In a thin field of free agent point guards, it was hard to do much better than Brooks at this point. But that doesn’t make him a safe choice. At age 31, the undersized quick point guard has already begun to show signs of decline. His penetrating skills have slipped, and he was never a good defender.
At least it’s just a one-year deal, so Indiana isn’t stuck. And if Brooks doesn’t work out this season -- when the Pacers are a trendy choice to secure home-court advantage in the first round -- Monta Ellis and Rodney Stuckey can always work as primary ball-handlers.