The Indiana Pacers plan to sign rookie guard Taelon Peter to a two-way contract.
The Pacers selected Peter with the 54th overall selection in the 2025 NBA Draft. The first-year player comes to Indiana from Liberty University, where he played his fifth and final season of college basketball.
At Liberty, Peter was one of the most efficient play finishers in the NCAA ranks. He canned 45.3% of his 170 three-point attempts while knocking down 75.6% of his two-point looks. Few players combined his athleticism and jump shooting ability, which is why he was a draft-worthy prospect despite coming off the bench for a Conference USA program.
He’s got this rare combination of explosive athleticism and really good skill,” Liberty head coach Ritchie McKay said of Peter.
He was willing to trade the things that would give him shine, attention, credibility, whatever, for what was going to be something that the team could benefit from. And that’s who Taelon Peter is,” McKay added.
Those traits and skills led Peter to the NBA, and specifically to the Pacers. He had to earn his two-way deal, though. Indiana entered the offseason with guard RayJ Dennis already under contract with one of the team’s three allowed two-way agreements, and Quenton Jackson quickly signed another one. That left one open slot for Peter, and he certainly had some competition, particularly in second-year big man Enrique Freeman.
Freeman performed well in summer league, and he spent his first season with the blue and gold. But the Pacers pulled Freeman’s qualifying offer on Tuesday, making him an unrestricted free agent and simultaneously indicating that Freeman is not in their future plans.
