T.J. McConnell Reportedly Re-Signs with Pacers on 4-Year, $35M Contract in FA

T.J. McConnell has agreed to return to the Indiana Pacers on a four-year, $35 million contract, per Shams Charania of Stadium and The Athletic.  

The 29-year-old averaged 8.6 points (55.9 percent from the field), 6.6 assists, 3.7 rebounds and 1.9 steals per game. He started only three of 69 games but was the team's most-used player off the bench (26.0 minutes per game).

The six-year NBA veteran began his career with the Philadelphia 76ers, who signed the Arizona product as an undrafted free agent in September 2015.

McConnell played four years in Philadelphia, averaging 6.4 points and 4.7 assists in 22.0 minutes per game. He primarily came off the bench for the 76ers outside the 2016-17 season, when he started 51 of his 81 games.

The 76ers enjoyed a significant turnaround from the beginning to the end of McConnell's tenure, going 10-72 during his rookie season before improving to a pair of 50-plus win seasons at the end, including two Eastern Conference semifinals appearances.

The emergence of Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons played the biggest role there, but McConnell was still a valuable member of the 76ers rotation.

McConnell became a free agent in the summer of 2019 and signed a two-year, $7 million contract with the Pacers. He averaged 6.5 points and 5.0 assists in his first year with Indiana, which earned the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs.

Last year didn't go so well for the Pacers, who went 33-39 and finished one win shy of the playoffs after falling to the Washington Wizards in the play-in tournament. But re-signing McConnell is a good move for Indiana as it looks to return to the postseason once again.