Aaron Brooks is remaining Jeff Teague’s backup, only this season it will be in Minneapolis. The 32-year-old point guard signed with the Minnesota Timberwolves on Thursday, the team announced.
Tom Thibodeau, the head coach and president of basketball operations, has coached Brooks once before: the 2014-15 season in Chicago.
Last season, his only season in Indy, Brooks averaged 5.0 points and 1.9 assists per game. He shot 40 percent from the field and 37.5 percent from range. Much like many of the Pacers’ roster last season, he struggled to find a groove. And he appeared in just one of four playoff games (seven minutes in total).
“The opportunity,” Brooks said at this time last as to why he signed with the Pacers in 2016. “I like what this team is doing, and they’re making strides to be better.”
Three Pacers from last year’s team remain unsigned entering the final weekend before training camp (for most teams): Lavoy Allen, Monta Ellis, and Rodney Stuckey.
All three of them became free agents after the Pacers ended their time together. They waived an injured Stuckey last April (to sign Lance Stephenson), they did not exercise a team option on Allen’s contract for next season, and then they waived (and stretched) Monta Ellis’ contract.
Meanwhile, Minnesota made sweeping changes in the offseason, notably trading for three-time NBA All-Star Jimmy Butler. They signed Teague minutes into free agency, then added veterans Jamal Crawford and Taj Gibson to play alongside Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins. (Brooks, Butler, Gibson, and Thibodeau were all together in Chicago.)
The Timberwolves are Brooks’ seventh team since he was taken 26th overall by the Rockets in 2007. That’s where he spent his first four years (2007-11). This will be his fourth straight season playing on a one-year deal.
“I have a unique skill that many guys possess,” Brooks told me. “When I’m on, I’m on. If it’s one-year deals, it’s one-year deals and I just get to know a bunch of different cities.”
Where many players crave stability and contract guarantees, Brooks previously said that he’s content with his circumstances. He’s not going to get serious money on a multi-year contract. He’ll have to earn it each year. Doing so, however, allows him to be selective — to a point — of the environment he joins.
“I don’t have any pressure,” Brooks said of being on one-year deals. “I’m just going in there to do my job, play my role. The pressure comes from the guys that are making the big dollars, and I just want to help them out as much as I can.”