Sabonis, who has the third-most double-doubles in the league with career highs in points (18.0), rebounds (12.8), and assists (4.6) in his first season as a starter, has been at the core of Indiana’s success without Oladipo. On the season, the Pacers are five points better per 100 possessions with him on the floor and just over two points worse with him off, the most dramatic swing on the team. In part, that’s due to the fact that he provides a through line for both the starters and the bench; using reads out of the short-roll and inside-out passing to peel open scorers for the former while also acting as a central hub for the swirling, free-flowing movement of the latter.
When he isn’t trucking through opponents and massaging the offense with his vision and passing ability (ahem...he not only leads the Pacers in passes per game; he ranks fourth in the entire NBA — trailing only Nikola Jokic, Ben Simmons, and Devonté Graham), he’s dominating while standing still, prying open windows of space with subtle screening techniques for his teammates to score out of the pick-and-roll — which just so happens to be Indiana’s top offensive weapon.
There’s also this: When Sabonis is on the floor, the Pacers are grabbing 50.3 percent of all missed shots. When he’s off, that number plummets to 46.4 percent — equivalent to worse than the worst rate in the league.
https://www.indycornrows.com/2020/1/30/21113426/domantas-sabonis-named-nba-all-star-reserve
