INDIANAPOLIS — Kendall Brown battled through injuries during the first season of his career, but after nearly two years of hard work and growth, he earned a three-year NBA contract with the Indiana Pacers.
The 20-year old forward was acquired by the Pacers during the 2022 NBA Draft. The franchise traded away future assets to land the pick that netted them Brown, an athletic forward who attended Baylor University.
He has 14 NBA appearances under his belt — most of Brown's development has come with the Indiana Mad Ants in the NBA G League. The young forward was previously on a pair of two-way contracts, which permitted the Pacers to easily move Brown between the NBA and the G League.
"Kendall is just struggling a little bit shooting the ball right now. Defensively, he's grown. Getting better and better," Mad Ants head coach Tom Hankins said earlier this season.
With a two-way contract signing deadline looming early in March, Indiana's front office opted to promote Brown from his two-way deal before backfilling his now-vacant roster spot with Quenton Jackson. Brown received a three-year deal with $1.1 million guaranteed in the ongoing season, a league source told AllPacers.
The next two seasons are both non-guaranteed, and the final season contains a team option according to multiple league sources. $250,000 of the contract becomes guaranteed on opening night of 2024-25, and $271,325 becomes guaranteed the same day in 2025-26. He received a solid amount of money up front, but his guarantees in future seasons are lighter and have far-off trigger dates. It's a good compromise between the team and player.
Brown earned the contract. He improved throughout the season, and he was finally healthy. He was only able to play in 22 games across the G League and NBA during his rookie season, but he suited up 33 times in the G League alone this campaign. He averaged 16.6 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 2.7 assists per game for the Mad Ants while shooting nearly 60% inside the arc. His three-point volume significantly increased, though his accuracy dropped.
"Definitely just being more mature... And playing enough games to be able to work on stuff and have it all come together," Brown told AllPacers in a one-on-one conversation about his improvement this season. He's now always with the NBA club, which has been helpful just by being in the presence of premier talents.
"Just watching everyone... at the top. See how they play. Trying to bring that whenever I go back down [to the G League] and trying to keep that same energy," Brown said of being observant while with the blue and gold. Now, that's a permanent situation.
The second-year wing inked his new contract on March 3, a Sunday during which the Pacers took on the Spurs. The day before, Brown's agent called him to let him know the good news: Indiana wanted to get a deal done.
It all came together in San Antonio, where Brown received his new deal. He called his whole family to let them know as soon as he could. His mom. His dad. His brother. The Minnesota native was eager to let others know.
Like his family, his teammates celebrated Brown for his new deal. "They just all congratulated me. Really felt the love from everyone," Brown said of the Pacers reaction as a roster.
That night, Indiana fell in San Antonio. Brown was able to play in the final quarter, though, which capped off an excellent weekend. It was his 13th NBA appearance.
Across from the young wing was Spurs forward Jeremy Sochan, one of Brown's teammates at Baylor. They are close, and the Pacers youngster told Sochan about his new contract after the game while the two were swapping jerseys on the court. Sochan could be seen jumping up and down in celebration.
"That's my guy," Brown said. "It was funny."
The 48th overall pick in 2022 is averaging 1.3 points per game this season with the blue and gold. He is up to 14 NBA appearances in total but could have more coming. He is now playoff eligible as well and hopes he can be useful for Indiana down the stretch.
"Help the team any way I can, whatever opportunity," Brown said of helping the Pacers now that he has a new contract. "When my number's called, just go out there and be a good defender, good team player, and do whatever they need."
Indiana liked Brown and discussed the prospect of bringing him back last offseason even after his shin injury. It slowed his development, but it didn't shake the Pacers faith that he has talent to go along with his otherworldly athleticism.
Now, he's on a standard NBA contract for the rest of the season. It's something Brown hoped would happen for a while.
"Especially on my second year as a two-way, I wanted to make something happen. Every game I played, that was in the back of my mind," he said. After working hard to make it happen, Kendall Brown is finally on an NBA contract with the Pacers.
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