The Pacers have a wing problem, and Johnny Furphy is the player who should be part of the answer.
On paper, he fits. He brings size, he brings athleticism, and he was supposed to give Indiana a different look off the bench - maybe even more of it than Ben Sheppard, maybe a cleaner low-usage option than Jarace Walker. That’s the tidy version of the story, the one built on what Furphy could become if everything clicks.
But that’s not where this has gone.
Furphy’s NBA start has been rough, and the frustrating part is how little runway he’s had to turn promise into production. The Australian second-round pick out of Kansas has only one real highlight to his name so far, and it came in Las Vegas rather than in actual NBA games. Basketball is basketball, and the absolute destruction of Asa Newell is still worth a rewatch, but it’s also the kind of moment that underlines how thin the rest of the résumé is.
Last season should have been the opening for him. Indiana had a gap-year feel, with so many players out, and Furphy had the chance to put his game on tape.
Even if the Pacers had moved on, he could have at least shown another team what he could do. Instead, a February game that few people paid attention to ended with an ACL tear, and that changed the whole arc.
Across two seasons, Furphy has appeared in 85 of 164 possible games. That’s just a little over half. For a player still trying to establish himself, that’s a brutal place to be.
The raw tools are obvious. He is ultra-athletic.
The problem is the shot, the very thing that helped get him drafted in the first place. In college, he hit 35% of his threes on nearly four attempts per game and made 77% of his free throws.
In the NBA, that promise hasn’t shown up in a way that matters yet, and the fact that anyone has to keep leaning on his college numbers says plenty.
That doesn’t mean he was invisible when his role grew. His minutes climbed from seven a night to 15, and his scoring went from 2.1 points per game to 5.1. The efficiency was ugly, even while it somehow marked career highs, but he did prove he could survive more responsibility.
Still, there’s a difference between surviving and solving a problem.
That’s where the disappointment comes in. Furphy looks like the kind of player Indiana should be able to use - an open-court runner, a floor spacer at his size, a draft pick landing in a system that ought to suit him. That’s not always how it works with rookies, but this one at least seemed set up for success.
Instead, he’s become another reminder that potential can vanish fast once the league gets involved. The comparison to Taelon Peter hangs over the conversation too, another player who looked like a flamethrower at Liberty and then disappointed in the pros.
Furphy’s career is nowhere near finished. He still has a chance to reclaim the prospect buzz he carried before the injury, and if that happens, Indiana might finally get to celebrate finding a useful draft pick outside of Andrew Nembhard.
Hope is still there. The clock is too.
In Other News...
Pacers Fans Finally Have A New Way To Watch This Season
After a season in which many Pacers fans had to piece together how and where to follow the team, there is finally a clearer local viewing option on the horizon. Indianas new broadcast partnership with DAZN gives the fan base another way to watch the Pacers this season, a welcome bit of stability for a team that has spent enough time lately giving people reasons to circle dates and tune in.
The arrangement matters because local access has become part of the modern NBA experience, and Pacers followers have been looking for a cleaner solution. While other league news has centered on contract standoffs and summer development stories around the conference, this is the kind of off-court change that can still shape how a season feels from the start, especially for fans who just want a reliable way to keep up every night. [Read more 🡒]
Pacers Linked To Veteran Reunion That Could Help A Finals Push
The Pacers roster shuffle left them with a little flexibility, and that has naturally turned attention toward a familiar face. After waiving Ethan Thompson and signing Braden Smith to a two-way contract, Indiana still has an open spot, and James Johnson has emerged as a possible reunion candidate for a club trying to keep its rotation steady while staying in the mix for a Finals push.
Johnson is the sort of veteran addition teams tend to revisit when the games get bigger and the margin for error gets smaller. He has bounced around the league, has already given Indiana a useful bench presence before, and brings the kind of leadership and locker room value that can matter as much as on-court minutes in a deep postseason run. Whether the Pacers decide to go that route remains the part worth watching. [Read more 🡒]
Pacers May Need One Uncomfortable Rotation Change To Fix Their Offense
The Pacers are still built around the idea that Tyrese Haliburton can lift the offense back toward its usual level, but the bigger question may be where the points are supposed to come from when the starters sit. Indianas bench has been described as light on scoring, and that makes the second unit more than a depth issue - it becomes a structural problem for a team that wants enough balance to keep pressure on defenses all night.
One possible answer is uncomfortable only because it changes the usual pecking order: starting Kelly Oubre Jr. and letting Andrew Nembhard become a true sixth-man scoring option. Nembhard has the kind of game that could steady the reserves and give the Pacers a more reliable punch off the bench, even if the leagues old divide between starters and reserves has blurred. For Indiana, the real aim is simpler than labels - find enough scoring in the right places to keep the offense from flattening when the rotation turns over. [Read more 🡒]