Where would the Indiana Pacers be without Quenton Jackson?

It sounds hyperbolic for a team that sits at just 8-10 but it’s not without warrant. The Pacers, missing all three of their best perimeter defenders, desperately needed someone to step up as a point-of-attack defender in the starting lineup. Enter Quenton Jackson, a 3rd-year player on his second two-way contract with the team, who played just 10 minutes and 32 seconds of garbage time at the NBA level last season. Now, he’s started at shooting guard in each of the last four games and played rotation minutes in nine of the last ten.

“Q-dog, that’s what I call him man,” Myles Turner said of his teammate after Monday night’s Pacers win over the Pelicans. “I really rock with his passion, his energy, man. I think he does things the right way. He’s not no Prima Donna. I think he’s got a lot of stuff out of the mud. And he was able to come to this league and really make a difference. He worked his way up, you know, nothing’s been handed to him. This position wasn’t handed to him, he’s a starter in the NBA now and it took a lot of work for him to get to that point. I got a lot of love and respect for him because he’s just a good dude.”

Any time you ask one of the Indiana Pacers about Jackson, that’s the type of response you get. Not only grateful for his valuable contributions on the court, but happy for the great person and teammate that he’s been since joining the team in early March of last year.

“He’s just a great dude, man,” Tyrese Haliburton said of Jackson. “Ever since we got him last year, he’s just been such a great teammate. … Good things happen to good people. He’s a guy you want in your corner, so everybody’s rooting for him to succeed. He just plays hard man. Obviously he’s a guy who’s been on two-way contracts in his career, and now he’s out here. He’s been starting for some time for us. He’s had really good minutes for us, so it’s really good to see. … We know when we’re down bodies like this, it comes down to hard play, and I think he embodies that for our group.”

That hard play is exactly what the coaching staff has needed to fill that fifth spot in the starting lineup with so many guys injured for an extended period.

“The first thing you notice about him is just how hard he goes, how physical, how fast,” Rick Carlisle said of what Jackson brings to the team. “He’s a combative defender. He’s a rim attacker. He’s going to bring intensity and competitiveness to the game. This is an amazing opportunity for him in his career. And every night he’s getting some kind of a really tough matchup, which is something that he really covets.”

Already this season, Jackson has been put to the task of guarding players like Damian Lillard, Jalen Brunson, CJ McCollum, Malcolm Brogdon, Tyler Herro, and Jalen Green. Whoever the toughest backcourt matchup has been on the opposing team, you’ve seen Jackson lined up against them.

“A lot of tough tasks, just trying to stay solid,” Jackson said of his defensive assignments. “Coach got on me last game because I did something I wasn’t supposed to be doing, so just staying solid, forcing everything over the screens, and just being a pest out there, aggravating whoever the ball handler is, and just giving my full effort and energy out there.”

While Jackson’s role with the Mad Ants was as an aggressive scoring, slashing guard as he averaged 22.3 points on 55.6% shooting, 5.4 assists, and 4.8 rebounds, the defensive pest is a role that he’s comfortable in.

“I had to play every role when I was younger,” Jackson said after Monday’s game. “I was never like elite offensively at basketball. My niche started on defense, like as I’ve gotten older, I’ve been able to add things to my game offensively. But my game always started on defense. So for me, it’s just kind of like the role it ain’t really nothing to me. My whole thing is defense anyway, like regardless of whether I score 100 points or zero points, defense is what’s gonna get it done. So I just pride myself on it, and then I just try to use that energy to help my teammates feel the same way.”

Defense isn’t the only place where Jackson has made his mark during this stretch as he’s averaged 11.3 points, 3.3 assists, and 2.5 rebounds over these last four games as a starter. His elite athleticism and explosiveness is among the best on the team and he’s delivered multiple highlight-reel dunks this season.

In his first start of the season, he scored a career high 24 points against the Houston Rockets while making 10 of his 12 shots from the floor. The Rockets tried hiding Alperen Sengun on him thinking the 2-way player would be shy about being aggressive in his opportunity. Instead, he called it “disrespectful” and got Sengun into quick foul trouble in the first quarter by driving right by him and forcing him to foul on and-one baskets multiple times. 

In the win against the Pelicans, Quenton Jackson hit four 3-pointers, which is as many as he had many in his previous 21 games in the NBA combined. Three of them came in the second half including a sequence in the third quarter where the CJ McCollum and Jackson went back and forth as each hit two 3-pointers over four consecutive possessions each one giving their team the lead. He then hit another in the fourth quarter that pushed the Pacers lead to four with just under six minutes to go. Massive shots in a game the Pacers won by only four points.

“I thought that Quenton Jackson hitting those four threes was the difference in the game,” Carlisle said. “It just was. They weren’t guarding him, they were giving him a lot of space, and he just confidently stepped up and knocked those shots in. Then he went back to the other end and he slapped the floor and he played defense. That’s who he is. He’s a find-a-way guy. He’s not a find-an-excuse guy, and he was a big part of this win.”

Jackson’s grateful to have joined an organization where he’s felt welcomed at all levels where he’s felt free to be himself.

“They don’t fit my personality, I fit theirs,” Jackson said of his Pacers teammates. “I ain’t gonna lie, coming in—I say this all the time—this is a different organization than anything I’ve ever been in. Just from the first day I got here, everybody from the players to the coaching staff, from the G league to the Pacers, was just super open, super welcoming. That energy right there was the energy that gave me the will to kind of just come in and be me. Everybody just accepted me for who I am. They know I’m goofy. They know I’m joking around a lot, but when it’s time to go, they know what time it is. So just finding that happy medium. But all in all, I love this organization, and I love how they treated me since I’ve been there.”

The Pacers are certainly glad that they’ve added Jackson as they look to try and find some consistency in their play and continue their climb out of the hole they’ve started the season in. If Jackson continues to have success, we may see his two-way contract get converted into a standard NBA deal before the end of the season. He’s certainly played like he belongs at this level.