The Pacers made a veteran leadership move when they brought in Larry Nance Jr., but there’s a strong case that James Johnson was the cleaner fit.
Nance’s signing raised eyebrows from the start. His second stint with the Cleveland Cavaliers didn’t go well, and he hadn’t done much since landing with the Atlanta Hawks in the DeJounte Murray trade. Even so, the appeal was obvious enough: veteran leadership, a player who had been on a Finals team with LeBron James in 2018, and someone who has long been praised as one of the nicest, most intelligent people around.
That kind of player makes sense at the end of the bench. He can talk, he can steady younger teammates, and he can help set a tone in the room.
But the on-court value is the problem. Nance is on a minimum contract, which feels about right given the level he can realistically provide. If Indiana’s early free-agency goal was to add a locker room presence more than a basketball contributor, then the Pacers already had a better option sitting there.
That option is Johnson.
The 39-year-old forward is still unsigned after the 2024-25 season, and his reputation as a vocal leader and respected locker-room presence had already been something Indiana leaned on before. The Pacers eventually pushed those responsibilities toward Pascal Siakam and Tyrese Haliburton, but that idea lost some of its force with Haliburton out while recovering from the Achilles tear he suffered in Game 7 of the 2024-25 NBA Finals and with the Pacers sliding into what the piece calls a self-named gap-year.
So the need is still there. Indiana needs an enforcer.
It needs someone who is good to its own players and unpleasant to the other side. It needs a big brother figure.
Johnson has already shown he can be that guy. He came to Indiana as a free agent with the intention of being a guiding force for a young roster, and when the team reached the Finals, that was the payoff: Johnson doing exactly what he said he would, helping turn a group of upstarts into professionals.
The argument here is simple. If the Pacers wanted that kind of presence, bringing Johnson back would have been the easy move, and probably the better one too.
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For the Pacers, that kind of talent-for-price profile can be hard to ignore, especially if they are looking for a low-cost swing on the wing. Johnson still has the kind of long-term upside that made him a first-round gamble in the first place, but any Indiana pursuit would come with the same central question that has followed him from stop to stop: can a team finally give him a consistent role long enough to unlock it? [Read more 🡒]
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Leonards exit from Toronto in 2019 and the ripple effects tied to the Clippers eventually helped shape the kind of roster Indiana could build, too. Through a series of moves that played out long after that draft-night deal, the Pacers ended up with Pascal Siakam and Ivica Zubac in the mix, pieces that now matter to the look and feel of their starting frontcourt even if the original Kawhi connection has stayed mostly in the background. [Read more 🡒]
Johnny Furphy Could Force His Way Into Indianas Bench Plans
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What makes his case more interesting is how neatly he could fit into the kind of small-ball groups Indiana likes to explore with Pascal Siakam. Furphy does not need to be a high-usage player to help, and that matters on a roster where bench roles can shift quickly depending on matchup and health. If his defensive tools hold up, he could push his way into the conversation as more than just another young wing on the fringe of the rotation. [Read more 🡒]