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Summary
Due to injuries to TJ Warren and Caris LeVert, the Pacers had to dig deeper into their rotation on the wing this season, which led to more minutes for McDermott. Overall, he played well for Indiana. McDermott can hit tough on-the-move threes coming off screens, and that gravity can open up space for his teammates. He's below-average on defense, but at least has enough size to battle with some of the bigger, strong wings.

McDermott "only" hit just under 40% from three this season, his worst since the '16-'17 season, but I wouldn't expect to that to worry teams much in free agency. If I were a team thinking about signing McDermott this summer, I would be confident that he could be a 40% three point shooter over the life of the contract.
 
Cap Considerations
McDermott will be an unrestricted free agent with a $13.9 million cap hold and full Bird rights. Since the Pacers will be operating over the salary cap, they will retain McDermott's Bird rights, and have no restrictions on re-signing him. Depending on McDermott's salary, re-signing him could preclude the Pacers from using the full MLE, as doing both might push them over the luxury tax line depending on his salary and their other free agents.

If McDermott demands a starting salary of more than the full $9.5 million Non-Taxpayer Mid-Level Exception, only teams with cap space will be able to sign him (unless a sign-and-trade is completed), but it's possible that McDermott could be had for the full MLE or less.

Potential Teams: Pacers, Trailblazers, Pelicans, Grizzlies, Cavaliers

Predicted Contract: 3-year, $30 million with the Pacers

Actual Contract: 3-year, $41.3 million with the Spurs

McDermott did better than I expected, getting $4M per year more than I expected, and will provide some valuable shooting to a Spurs team that is in need of his skillset.

Last updated: 8/22/2021

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