Team: Indiana Pacers · PG · Age 34 · Base role: 15-minute backup point guard
Projection card
| GP | MPG | 3PM | PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | FG% | FT% | TO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 58 | 15.0 | 0.2 | 7.5 | 2.0 | 4.1 | 0.9 | 0.1 | .530 | .800 | 0.9 |
Nine-category: top 135-195 per game despite limited scoring because assists, steals, FG% and low turnovers concentrate quickly. Points: top 160-220. Dynasty: 350+ at age 34.
Why the line looks like this
McConnell averaged 9.4 points, 5.1 assists, 2.2 rebounds and 1.0 steal in 17.2 minutes over 56 games. Hamstring and knee management accounted for much of the missed time. Haliburton's return restores the 2024-25 bench archetype, while the age/injury pattern argues against projecting 70-plus games. Basketball Reference Pacers · Pacers injury ledger
Hashtag's July crowd ranked him 230th, understating his usable per-game specialist value but accurately reflecting weak season-long volume. Hashtag crowd
Redraft, dynasty, and scenarios
- Redraft: do not draft in shallow leagues; add immediately for any Haliburton/Nembhard absence or four-game week.
- Dynasty: contender-only bench asset; sell any temporary starter spike.
- Floor: 12 minutes and under 4 assists when both lead guards are unrestricted.
- Ceiling: 25 minutes and 8+ assists with 1.5 steals during a lead-guard absence; top-75 streamer.
Confidence
| Roster | Minutes | Rates | Availability |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | Medium-high | High | Medium-low |
Career record
Pre-NBA: Two seasons at Duquesne (10.8 points, 4.4 assists, 2.8 steals as a freshman; 11.4/5.5/2.8 as a sophomore on .509/.432), Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Year in 2011, then a transfer year and two seasons at Arizona — 8.4 points and 5.3 assists in 2013-14, 10.4 points and 6.3 assists on .498 shooting in 2014-15. First-team All-Pac-12 and back-to-back all-conference defensive selections as a senior. Draft: undrafted (2015); signed with Philadelphia on September 27, 2015.
| Season | Age | Team | GP | MPG | PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | 3PM | FG% | FT% | TO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015-16 | 23 | PHI | 81 | 19.8 | 6.1 | 3.1 | 4.5 | 1.2 | 0.1 | 0.4 | .470 | .634 | 1.7 |
| 2016-17 | 24 | PHI | 81 | 26.3 | 6.9 | 3.1 | 6.6 | 1.7 | 0.1 | 0.1 | .461 | .811 | 2.0 |
| 2017-18 | 25 | PHI | 76 | 22.4 | 6.3 | 3.0 | 4.0 | 1.2 | 0.2 | 0.4 | .499 | .795 | 1.5 |
| 2018-19 | 26 | PHI | 76 | 19.3 | 6.4 | 2.3 | 3.4 | 1.0 | 0.2 | 0.2 | .525 | .784 | 1.2 |
| 2019-20 | 27 | IND | 71 | 18.7 | 6.5 | 2.7 | 5.0 | 0.8 | 0.2 | 0.1 | .516 | .833 | 1.4 |
| 2020-21 | 28 | IND | 69 | 26.0 | 8.6 | 3.7 | 6.6 | 1.9 | 0.3 | 0.2 | .559 | .688 | 2.0 |
| 2021-22 | 29 | IND | 27 | 24.1 | 8.5 | 3.3 | 4.9 | 1.1 | 0.4 | 0.4 | .481 | .826 | 1.1 |
| 2022-23 | 30 | IND | 75 | 20.3 | 8.7 | 3.1 | 5.3 | 1.1 | 0.1 | 0.3 | .543 | .853 | 1.9 |
| 2023-24 | 31 | IND | 71 | 18.2 | 10.2 | 2.7 | 5.5 | 1.0 | 0.1 | 0.3 | .556 | .790 | 1.5 |
| 2024-25 | 32 | IND | 79 | 17.9 | 9.1 | 2.4 | 4.4 | 1.1 | 0.3 | 0.2 | .519 | .740 | 1.4 |
| 2025-26 | 33 | IND | 56 | 17.2 | 9.4 | 2.2 | 5.1 | 1.0 | 0.2 | 0.3 | .538 | .862 | 1.1 |
| Career | 762 | 20.8 | 7.8 | 2.9 | 5.0 | 1.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 | .518 | .782 | 1.6 |
Durability: Nine of eleven seasons at 69 games or more. The two exceptions are 2021-22, when right wrist surgery on December 7 cost him roughly three months and held him to 27 games, and 2025-26, when a left hamstring strain suffered in an October 7 preseason game kept him out at least a month to start the year and contributed to the 26 games missed.
Trajectory: Eleven years of the same output at rising efficiency — a sub-.520 shooter early who has finished above .518 in six of the last seven seasons, all of it inside the arc, all of it in fewer than 27 minutes a night. He has never started meaningfully and does not need to; the assists, steals, field-goal percentage and low turnovers are the whole profile. With Haliburton back and Nembhard entrenched, his healthy-night baseline is about 15 minutes, which is not draftable. He becomes a top-75 category streamer only when Haliburton or Nembhard misses time — a bet that has paid out in each of the last three seasons — and the risk at 34 is that Carlisle protects him on back-to-backs and Braden Smith takes the leftover minutes.
Career sources: ESPN career stats · Wikipedia · ESPN hamstring report · NBA.com injury update
Open questions
- Does Carlisle protect McConnell more aggressively on back-to-backs at age 34?
- Can Braden Smith or Quenton Jackson take any regular backup-PG minutes?