INDIANAPOLIS — Last season marked the first time in a while that Taelon Peter had to spend a whole season shutting up and listening.
The Pacers two-way contract guard had struggled to get on the floor as a freshman at Tennessee Tech but averaged double figures in all three of his season at Division II Arkansas Tech and then immediately made an impact as a fifth-year transfer to Liberty, earning Conference USA Sixth Man of the Year honors on a team that won a conference title. When he was taken by a Pacers team coming off an Eastern Conference title with the No. 54 overall pick in the second round of the 2025 NBA Draft, he immediately became the team’s least experienced player and knew his whole job was to learn.
“I’m a natural leader,” Peter said after Pacers NBA Summer League practice on Monday at the Ascension St. Vincent Center. “Last year was kind of an uncomfortable position not being in a position to lead, being a guy that was being a sponge and taking in all of the information.”
Still, as unnatural of a position as it might have been for Peter, he did take in every bit of information he could in a season that required more from him than was expected. And thanks to that experience, he comes into his second NBA Summer League with the confidence to be a leader on that squad even though he’ll still be.
With injuries ravaging the whole Pacers team but especially the backcourt, Peter had to appear in 38 NBA games with the Pacers on a two-way contract as well as 20 with the Noblesville Boom. He averaged 12.9 minutes per game and had a stretch in February and March when he recorded at least 25 minutes in five straight appearances. He averaged 4.5 points per game in NBA games and 14.8 per game in G League games, recording over 1,100 professional minutes as a rookie.
“I was really fortunate last year,” Peter said. “It was an unfortunate situation for the team record-wise and injury wise, but I was able to get a lot of reps with the Pacers and a lot of reps with the G League and over the past year, I got to evaluate and be exposed a little bit to what my game needed and where my game was at overall.”
What his game needed was for him to be better at the point of attack on both sides of the ball. At 6 foot 3, 185 pounds he is an undersized shooting guard, so he had to prove he could not only handle point guard responsibilities but be effective in driving opportunity for others. And he had to prove he could slow down others who wanted to do the same. He averaged 1.1 assists per game in the NBA — 2.9 per 36 minutes — figures that weren’t quite high enough to run point.
“Heading into this next year I can be more of a playmaker,” Peter said. “Being more comfortable with the ball in my hands. Being confident guarding the ball. All things I got to be put in situations in the NBA and the G League to do last year. I was able to realize where I stood. This summer has been good for me to work on those things.”
Peter said he took about a week off after the season ended and then got back in the gym and has been able to sense an improvement in his weaknesses. The coaching staff can see it as well.
“Credit to the lifting staff and credit to Taelon for his mentality,” said Johnny Carpenter, Pacers assistant coach and head coach for this year’s Pacers Summer League team. “Defensively, he’s been way more physical. Offensively, he’s shot the ball really well today with confidence. Him playing confident and free is a great thing for Indiana.”
It also allows him to operate as a leader, at least on this Summer League team. The Pacers don’t have a single player on the roster who has a standard contract. Peter is one of just two players who earned any minutes on last year’s Pacers team with the other being forward Jalen Slawson. Both players ended last season with the Pacers on a two-way deal, but Slawson played Summer League for the 76ers before signing an Exhibit 10 deal with Indiana and didn’t get a two-way contract until the end of February. Other players have more total professional experience, but Peter is the only one who also played for last year’s Pacers Summer League team.
“I’m gladly giving advice,” Peter said. “Things that I wish I would have known going into it last year. I’m trying to be as helpful as I can.”
Though the additional experience does make him more comfortable, he does enter Summer League knowing he has to fight for that two-way contract. The Pacers intend to sign rookie Braden Smith to a two-way deal. Slawson is technically a restricted free agent, but the Pacers made a qualifying offer on his two-way deal and can match any offer. Guard Ethan Thompson is not taking part in Summer League because he’s on the roster for the Puerto Rico national team in FIBA World Cup qualifying but his two-way deal is still viable.
Unless the Pacers would surprisingly decide to sign one of the four to a standard contract and somehow fit it in under the first luxury tax apron, one of those four will not be on the Pacers’ roster this season, so Peter has to make his own case in Summer League even as he’s helping others.
“It’s a business, Peter said. “I know that coming into it. I trust my work. I trust in God ultimately. I’ve had a journey to get to this point and it definitely wasn’t all of my doing. I put that to the side, let it be what it’s going to be. But I’ve given it my all every day I need to be the best version of Taelon every single day. Control what I can control and what happens is what happens. I understand the nature of the business but I’m a competitor and I’m going to work hard to maintain it.”
Dustin Dopirak covers the Pacers all season. Get more coverage on IndyStarTV and with the Pacers Insider newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Second-year Pacers guard using Summer League to lead even with roster spot not guaranteed
Reporting by Dustin Dopirak, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Dustin Dopirak, Indianapolis Star | USA TODAY Network
