Joe Young got his first taste of the NBA’s Developmental League Saturday night. The Pacers’ seldom-used second-round pick was assigned to the Fort Wayne Mad Ants and led the team with 27 points in a 110-103 overtime loss to the Iowa Energy.
The 23-year-old’s stat line: 27 points (9-21 FGs, 3-5 3PT FGs, 6-7 FTs), three assists, three steals, two rebounds, and seven turnovers in 40 minutes.
The Pacers drafted Young 43rd overall in the 2015 NBA Draft.
The seven turnovers obviously stand out, but remember it was his first D-League game and his first time playing significant minutes since Nov. 18.
Through the first 21 games of the Pacers’ regular season season, Young appeared in seven games — missed 12 of his 14 shots — and played just under 42 minutes … total!
He played 40 minutes on Saturday in front of Pacers President of Basketball Operations Larry Bird and General Manager Kevin Pritchard.
LISTEN: Pacers Podcast with Mad Ants GM Brian Levy
Young is at the bottom of the depth chart, along with Shayne Whittington and rookie Rakeem Christmas who have both played for the Mad Ants since the beginning of the season.
“Joe’s got an opportunity where if he stays with us, he’s not going to get much practice time and he’s not in the current rotation so it’s very difficult to stay sharp, to stay in shape, let alone to develop as a young player,” Pacers coach Frank Vogel told FOX Sports Indiana’s Jeremiah Johnson on Saturday. “It’s a great opportunity. He’s going to play Saturday and Sunday and then he’ll be back with us.”
On Sunday, the Mad Ants play up in Walker, Michigan against the Grand Rapids Drive. Vogel prefers to send players to the D-League when the Pacers have little to no practice time and a guy is clearly out of the rotation. What he doesn’t like is for a player to miss practice time, and thus Young will return to Indianapolis Sunday before they have three home games over a five-day span.
“It’s really a terrific option,” Vogel said of utilizing the Mad Ants, a franchise Pacers owner Herb Simon purchased in September. “That’s the reason we pushed our owner to acquire the team so we have our own developmental league team.”
[VIDEO: Cousins Paul George and Joe Young in a new Gatorade commercial]
Young had not played in the Pacers’ last three games, and had been on the court for only four minutes over the last nine games. In six of those games, he didn’t even check in.
Shayne Whittington recorded a double-double with 21 and 10, and Rakeem Christmas finished with nine points, eight rebounds, and three blocks.