'I've always felt like this place is home': Doug McDermott thrilled to return to Pacers

CHARLOTTE -- Doug McDermott had already planned on being on the road for a while, so at least he had his bags packed when he was traded back to Indiana.

The Spurs had just embarked on their annual "rodeo road trip" when the Frost Bank Center is taken up by the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo. The rodeo runs from Feb. 8-25, and the Spurs were in Orlando for the second night of a back-to-back when McDermott was sent to the Pacers as part of what became a three-team deal that sent Buddy Hield to Philadelphia. (Hield is averaging 22.3 points, shooting 44.8% on 3s and 6.7 assists in three games with the Sixers.)

So since McDermott was already on the road, shifting gears and going to New York for the Pacers game against the Knicks on Saturday night wasn't that much of a logistical challenge.

"I already packed a lot of clothes expecting to be gone for the whole month," McDermott said after the Pacers' loss to the Hornets on Monday night. "I'm just going to continue wearing the same clothes. I know we go to San Antonio in early March and I can go back and get some stuff. In the meantime, I'm just gonna try to get as much Pacers gear as I can and maybe hit the mall a few times."

The move is one McDermott is ecstatic to make on a number of levels. It gets him on a team that is in postseason position at seventh place in the Eastern Conference after two-plus seasons out of contention with the Spurs. Though the addition of 2023 No. 1 overall pick Victor Wembanyama promises to change the trajectory of the franchise sometime soon, the Spurs have the Western Conference's worst record at 11-43.

But more to the point, McDermott said, going back to Indiana brings him back to the place he felt most at home during his NBA career and where his game flourished the most. McDermott was a three-time All-American at Creighton, playing under his father, Greg, and was the No. 11 pick in the 2014 draft, but he played with four franchises in his first four years in the NBA before he signed with the Pacers as a free agent in 2018. In 2019-20, he averaged double-figure scoring for a full season for the first time in his career and the next year, he averaged 13.6 points per game, his career high. In all three seasons, he experienced a postseason, albeit short, as the Pacers were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs in 2019 and 2020 and lost in the play-in game in 2021.

"It feels good to be a part of winning basketball," McDermott said. "I haven't really been a part of that in a couple years. Just to be a part of the Pacer organization, I'm super excited but very thankful for my time in San Antonio. I've always felt like this place is home for me. It's kind of the place where I revamped my career."

And McDermott has a deeper affinity for the Pacers because of his upbringing. He was born in Grand Forks, N.D. while Greg was an assistant at North Dakota and bounced around the Great Plains before playing his high school ball in Ames, Iowa, while Greg was coaching at Iowa State. He didn't have an obvious NBA team to root for, but he latched on to the Pacers.

"I'm a Midwest guy," McDermott said. "It's always been a dream of mine to play for the Pacers. To be able to do it a second time is pretty special."

The franchise has changed significantly since he left it in 2021. He spent two seasons playing under Nate McMillan and one for Nate Bjorkgren. The season after his last with the Pacers, coach Rick Carlisle took over, point guard Tyrese Haliburton was acquired in a trade with Sacramento, became the face of the franchise and the organization has since been built around his style of play.

But McDermott has history with Carlisle, having played for him in Dallas in 2018 after the Mavericks acquired him in a three-way deadline deal with the Knicks and Mavericks that also included Devin Harris and Emmanuel Mudiay. McDermott played 26 games with the Mavericks that season before signing with the Pacers in the offseason. He averaged 9.0 points per game, shot 47.8% from the floor and 49.4% from 3-point range, so he's comfortable with what Carlisle likes to do.

"A lot of it is the same," McDermott said. "He runs a lot of good stuff on offense and he holds you accountable. That's what I want in a coach. He has a great basketball mind obviously. He's a Hall-of-Fame type coach. I have a lot of respect for him and it's been great so far."

McDermott has played just 15 minutes in his first two games and is clearly still getting his feet set, but seems to have at least an idea of where he's supposed to be on the floor. Carlisle thinks he'll eventually be a natural fit as a wing on the Pacers' second unit.

"Everything's been good," Carlisle said before Monday's game against the Hornets. "Everything's going well. ... He fits what we're doing offensively and he understands what we're doing defensively. He'll fit in well."

He's also found the Pacers locker room to be easy for him to fit into even if it's also dramatically different. Center Myles Turner and backup point guard T.J. McConnell are the only players who were on the Pacers roster for his last tenure, but he said it's been easy to get to know the rest of them.

"There's not a bad guy in the locker room," McDermott said. "There's no egos. That's something the Pacers have always taken pride in, having great guys in the locker room. I knew it would be an easy transition for me just because, from the outside looking in, you can always see these guys having fun on the bench."

The first two games have included their struggles. McDermott is a career 41.1% 3-point shooter and he made 43.9% of his 3s with the Spurs this season, but he missed his only attempt against the Knicks on Saturday in a late-shot-clock situation and he was 0 of 4 from 3 on Monday against the Hornets. On three of those attempts, the ball seemingly touched every inch of the rim before rattling out, leaving him scoreless through two games as a Pacer.

"Obviously I'd rather make them," McDermott said. "But they feel good. Playing with this guy (McConnell, who was sitting next to him) helps. You get a lot of open ones. I'm not going to worry about it because I know they'll fall."

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Doug McDermott is thrilled to return 'home' to the Pacers