The Indiana Pacers first move this summer was to agree to terms with Bruce Brown Jr. on a 2-year, $45 million deal with a team option in the second season.
In a vacuum, paying Brown, who averaged 11.5/4.1/3.4 last season with the Nuggets, $22 million in salary and him being the team’s highest paid player next season may seem perplexing. But there’s a lot of context to this deal that make number reasonable and even necessary.
1. The new CBA really incentivizes reaching the salary floor
To put it simply, the Pacers had to spend money this summer somewhere. With the new CBA, there are much bigger consequences for franchises that don’t reach the salary floor (90% of the salary cap). If a team does not reach this minimum number ($122.4 million for 2023-24) before the season starts, they lose out on 50% of any luxury tax payments that they would have received from other teams and have to pay the amount they were short of the floor anyway where it is then split evenly between every player in the NBA. Previously that amount would have just been split between only the players on the team that didn’t reach the floor and there was no penalty in terms of not receiving luxury tax payments. In 2024-25, teams that don’t reach the salary floor receive 0% of their luxury tax share.
So, the Pacers spending a hefty sum on Brown bursted them through the floor which will make their owner happy by ironically saving him money. But it’s not like Indiana is paying Brown tens of millions of dollars to sit at the end of the bench and be James Johnson next season, he’ll also add a ton of value on the court.
2. Defense, defense, defense
The Pacers were near the bottom of the league in just about every defensive statistical ranking last season: 29th in points allowed per game, 26th in defensive rating. They know if they want to push towards the postseason next year that they have to improve on that end of the floor.
“We must get better defensively,” Rick Carlisle said after the season. “In the exit meetings today, I talked to everyone about the fact that we’re all going to need to take the challenge individually to lift our level.”
Well, Bruce Brown immediately comes in as the Pacers best perimeter and point of attack defender.
His springy athleticism allows for the 6’4” wing to make some wow plays even defending the rim on occasion.
While Brown does join the Pacers ever-growing club of players that are under 6’6” he is capable of defending bigger players on a switch and holding his own as well. He adds plenty of unique skills and versatility that don’t make him feel redundant as yet another 2/3 wing player.
3. Proven role player with malleability
With a young team with very limited playoff experience among its roster, Brown can provide leadership in knowing what it takes to perform at the highest level. Not only did Brown win a championship with the Nuggets last season as a role player but he was a valuable piece to another contender in the Brooklyn Nets in the two seasons prior.
With some free agents, you may worry if taking them out of their current ecosystem will see them take a step back in their play but that feels like less of a concern with Brown when he’s been successful at every stop in his career next to different kinds of stars and shapeshifting within a variety of roles.
With the Nets, he was primary screen setter often for Harden/Irving/Durant and would make a ton of plays passing out of the short roll. Any time teams try and take the ball out of the hands of Tyrese Haliburton by sending two to the ball, Brown can make things happen in the resulting 4-on-3 situations.
With the Nuggets, he played of Nikola Jokic to perfection with his timely cuts and transition play and had some ball-handling duties as well.
Carlisle should have fun using Brown in creative ways. Brown adds another high-feel playmaker to the starting lineup that should complement Haliburton and make it harder for defenses to sell out forcing the ball out of his hands. With those two and perhaps rookie Jarace Walker all in the same lineup, the ball movement should be breathtaking.
Brown’s great in transition, a capable 3-point shooter (outside of the left corner), and an athletic finisher at the rim. He doesn’t take a ton of threes but upped his attempts to 3.2 per game last year and made 35.8% overall.
4. Lower offers probably don’t get Brown to come
The only reason Brown isn’t staying in Denver is because the Nuggets were limited in what they could offer him. Because he had only been on their team for one season, they didn’t have his Bird Rights which allows teams to re-sign players while over the salary cap. After he declined his player option, they could only offer him $7.8 million for this next season which clearly was far below his market value. Hard to blame him for leaving even after this happened at Denver’s championship parade.
To get Brown to come to Indiana, an unproven, young, on-the-rise team instead of a team that’s already seen as a contender, the Pacers were going to have to pay a premium. Multiple contenders were going to see Brown as an attractive option at the mid-level exception that allows over-the-cap teams to offer starting salaries of $12.4 million. Combine needing to top those offers and needing to reach the salary floor anyway and you can see why the contract makes perfect sense.
Kevin Pritchard and the Pacers front office enticed Brown with a chance to make nearly twice the midlevel amount this season and far more money than he’s made his entire career to this point ($15 million over five years in the league). If things don’t work out, Indiana has the option to decline the team option next summer. Brown can then find a new team that’s willing to give him the MLE or a longer term deal while the Pacers have flexibility to make new additions. But there’s plenty of reasons to be optimistic that this could end up being a long-term marriage as well.
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