New Indiana Pacers wing Kelly Oubre Jr. received a bold prediction for the 2026-27 NBA season.
The Indiana Pacers added a solid veteran to the team this summer in Kelly Oubre Jr.
Indiana signed Oubre Jr. to a two-year, nearly $17 million contract.
NBA analyst Zach Buckley of Bleacher Report recently predicted that Oubre Jr. will be a "Sixth Man of the Year finalist" next season for the Pacers, who should be a playoff team again with Tyrese Haliburton back in the mix.
"If you listed the many reasons for Pacers fans to feel optimistic for this upcoming season, it'd take a little while before you got around to their signing of Oubre. He is a solid option, he's just not as big of a talking point as, say, the return of Tyrese Haliburton or the full integration of Ivica Zubac," Buckley wrote.
"But Oubre should fill a prominent role in this rotation. And he just might fill it awfully well, since his athleticism, downhill scoring and ignitable outside shots should all be system fits for an offense that operated at a top-10 pace the last time a healthy Haliburton was behind the wheel."
Oubre Jr. spent the previous three seasons with the Philadelphia 76ers. The swingman averaged 14.1 points, 5.0 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game last season while shooting 46.7% from the field, 36.0% from beyond the arc and 76.6% from the free-throw line.
A Kansas product, Oubre Jr. has played for the Washington Wizards, Phoenix Suns, Golden State Warriors, Charlotte Hornets and 76ers. He enters next season with career averages of 13.3 points, 4.7 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game in the regular season and 9.5 points, 4.0 rebounds and 0.9 assists per game in the playoffs.
Pacers GM Chad Buchanan recently spoke about why the team signed Oubre Jr., who will need to defend and shoot the 3-ball at a high level for Indiana next season.
“He impacts the game on the defensive side of the ball as much as he can on the offensive side, which was appealing to us,” Buchanan said on the Setting The Pace podcast. “Last year was probably the best shooting year of his career. We think there’s more room from that regard for Kelly. I think he’ll see more open shots created in our system than he’s probably seen in his career. Optimistic that he’ll be able to knock down shots for us, but also provide some presence as a defender, being able to guard multiple positions, which is important for us.”
