INDIANAPOLIS — Emanuel Sharp worked out for the Pacers in late May, less than a month before the draft and more than two weeks after the results of the lottery left Indiana without a pick in the 2026 draft.
The first-team All-Big 12 guard ranks in the top 40 of most publicly available draft prospect lists, so he seemed to have little need to show anything to a team with no opportunity to draft him. However, he also didn’t consider himself such a sure thing that he should pass up any chance to make a good impression.
“Everywhere you go, you’re being evaluated,” Sharp said then. “That’s how I approach it. It’s not whether the team has a draft pick. I know everywhere I go, people are watching me. So every time I’m stepping in between the lines, I’m giving maximum effort and putting my best foot forward. Draft pick or not, you always are being evaluated.”
As the draft approaches with the first round coming Tuesday in Brooklyn and the second round Wednesday, Sharp’s approach looks prescient. Jake Fischer of the Stein Line reported last week that the Pacers are looking to trade for a second-round pick and in particular looking for for a selection in the 30s, meaning somewhere in the first 10 picks in the second round. That’s generally about the area where Sharp has been picked to be taken in mock drafts.
Sharp was one of the few players expected to be taken in that range who came to any of the Pacers’ five publicized prospect workouts in May and June. The others are Duke’s Maliq Brown and Purdue’s Braden Smith, a Westfield High School graduate and the all-time NCAA record-holder in career assists.
That doesn’t give much of a hint of what the Pacers might do if they get a second-round pick and their motivation to do so might have just as much to do with clearing out some salary below the first luxury tax apron so that they can use more of the non-taxpayer mid-level exception in free agency. If they can send forward Jarace Walker and his $8.5 million salary to a team with salary cap room or a trade exception, they would have access to the full $15.1 million available in that exception rather than the $7.8 million they currently have available.
Still, it would be helpful if the Pacers can turn a second-round pick into a useful player. They’ve done it before as guard Andrew Nembhard turned second-round selection into a starting job and forward Johnny Furphy has shown some promise after being taken in that position as well.
Sharp fits in a similar mold to them in the sense that he is a true two-way player. He was Big 12 All-Defense for Houston this season just as he was first-team all-conference. He averaged a career-high 15.5 points per game with a career-high 97 3-pointers, but he averaged better than 1.0 steals per game in each of the last three seasons at Houston.
The 6-3, 205-pounder is an excellent individual defender, but perhaps more importantly he was part of a Houston program built on defense under coach Kelvin Sampson. In Sharp’s five seasons with the program including his 2021-22 redshirt year, Houston won at least 32 games and reached at least the Sweet 16 every year with an appearance in the 2025 national title game. In each of the four seasons Sharp played, the Cougars finished in the top five nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency according to the college basketball analytics website kenpom.com. Players who have come through that system have played above their station. Walker played just one year there, but Jamal Shead of Toronto has found a rotation spot despite being a second-round pick.
“It’s the mentality,” Sharp said. “It’s the attitude and the amount of effort that you approach every day with. That carries over to any level of basketball that you’re playing. That’s why Houston has a history of guys that succeed in the league. You can go down the line. (Marcus) Sasser, (LJ) Cryer, Shead, Quentin Grimes, Jarace here. These are all guys that came through the program. I’m really close to all of them. We all have one thing in common. We all have the same mentality and we all went through the same adversity at Houston and that’s what has got us prepared for the next level.”
The Pacers — if of course they get into the draft at all — could obviously go a different direction depending on where they get in and who is still on the board when they do. If a center such as Connecticut’s Tarris Reed Jr. or North Carolina’s Henri Veesar is still around after Round 1, they might take one of them so they can decline Micah Potter’s club option. They could go after Arkansas’ Meleek Thomas if he’s still on the board if they want offense over defense and they could look for longer wings Alex Karaban of Connecticut or Duke’s Isaiah Evans if they’re around and also pick-up two-way players who have been winners.
But a point-of-attack defender who can score would check important boxes for the Pacers, and Sharp checks those.
“I think I’m one of the best defenders in the country,” Sharp said. “I think whatever team takes me, that’s what they’re gonna get. A lock-down defender who can knock down shots and be a great teammate. I think any team that wants to win can use that.”
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: Weeks after working out for pick‑less Pacers, Sharp may be target if they trade into draft
Reporting by Dustin Dopirak, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Dustin Dopirak, Indianapolis Star | USA TODAY Network
