This particular (and temporary) collection of Pacers might be struggling to win games, but they produce stories prolifically. Underdog stories. Survival stories. Revival stories.
None of them so far are any better than the one belonging to A.J. Price, the wandering point guard who, five years into his NBA career, keeps proving that he belongs in the league but can't seem to find a stable home in the league.
“I'm playing for my life,” Price said Monday, moments after coming off the bench to score 22 points in helping the Pacers to their second victory of the season, 97-86 over Utah.
“I'm staying till they tell me to go or tell me to stay longer, either/or.”
The Pacers would love to keep Price around, but that could prove difficult under their bizarre circumstances.
He's a hardship case, an emergency acquisition, a temp worker of sorts. NBA teams can exceed the 15-player limit when at least four players are injured for at least two weeks and miss at least three games. The Pacers have gone beyond that, with Paul George, George Hill, David West, C.J. Watson and Rodney Stuckey rehabbing injuries and C.J. Miles out for the past three games with a migraine.
So, they called him at his home in Baldwin, N.Y. last Wednesday evening, about 10 p.m., to invite him to join them for Friday's game at Boston – but even then only after their first choice, Gal Mekel, had visa issues. Problem is, West and Watson could return by the end of the week, and Miles could return anytime, which puts Price's status in jeopardy.
He's well-versed in uncertainty, though, so he'll carry on and hope for the best. This, after all, is a player who was traded even before he even entered the NBA in a sense, coming to the Pacers in the second round of the 2009 draft via a pick acquired from Dallas. He lasted three years, but gradually lost his foothold on playing time as guards were imported, and was not retained after the 2011-12 season. He signed with Washington, where he started 22 games and averaged 7.7 points, then played last season in Minnesota, and then signed with Cleveland in September. He played well in the pre-season, including a 14-point effort against the Pacers at Xavier, but the Cavs let him go in their final cut.
It must be confusing to be released so often by teams that tell you that you're good enough to play in the NBA, but that's Price's fate for now.
“You always wonder,” he said. “You can't take anything for granted. You never know what anybody else is thinking. I was grateful and ecstatic when I got the call from the Pacers.”
Price became their latest dramatic storyline on Monday by hitting 8-of-12 shots, including 3-of-4 three-pointers. He was on the court for all but 2 ½ minutes in the fourth quarter, when the Pacers (2-6) held on to end their six-game losing streak.
He scored 10 points in that stretch, and made the biggest plays: a three-pointer with 8:45 left that gave the Pacers a three-point lead they never relinquished, another three-pointer with 6:05 remaining off Ian Manhimi's offensive rebound and kickout that pushed the lead to eight, and a turnaround 21-footer with the shot clock expiring that clinched the victory with 32.7 left.
This came after a five-point, four-assist fresh-out-of-the-box contribution at Boston last Friday, and a nine-point, four-assist effort in 17 ½ minutes on Saturday against Washington.
“He's an NBA player,” Pacers coach Frank Vogel said. “I don't know why he's bouncing around, to be honest with you. He belongs in this league. And he showed it tonight.”
Price has plenty of competition for subplots on this team. We've seen Donald Sloan, who has a similar point guard's survival story, score a career-high 31 points at Washington last Wednesday. We've seen second-year forward Solomon Hill score a career-high 28 against the Wizards on Saturday. Monday's game alone brought Roy Hibbert scoring 29, one short of his career-high, and Lavoy Allen grabbing 15 rebounds, most by a Pacers player since last year's season-opener, when Hibbert grabbed 16.
Price, though, brings the added element of a tightrope walk. Will he somehow make it to the end of the season, or fall to the fate of the roster limit? Stay tuned.
“I can't worry about that,” he said. “If I worry about that, it will take away from my game. I'll play my game and let the chips fall where they may.”
In the meantime, he's a welcome presence in the locker room.
“Where are you staying while you're here?” he was asked.
“The Conrad,” he said.
“At my house!” Stuckey chimed in, peering over the reporters' shoulders.
“That's my man, Stuck,” Price said, smiling.
Price has proven himself capable on the court, and is widely recognized as an asset in the locker room. He possesses the sort of natural cool that enables him to fit in anywhere, with a calm demeanor and quiet sense of humor.
So why is he still hanging on to an NBA career by his fingernails?
He shrugged.
“I don't have a bad rap,” he said. “I'm a great locker room guy. I never get in trouble. From my standpoint, I'm doing what I'm supposed to do, but it doesn't always work out in your favor. So you just have to keep pushing and stay with it. I know plenty of guys who didn't get the opportunity they wanted right away but they stuck with it and eventually things happened.”
Price's role model for perseverance and patience is Chauncey Billups, the point guard who played for four teams over five seasons before settling in with Detroit, where he became an All-Star and led the Pistons to an NBA title.
It helps to be on familiar ground with the Pacers. Vogel was an assistant during his first tour of duty with them, as was current assistant Dan Burke. The building, the atmosphere, and many of the faces are familiar and comfortable. Vogel has dummied-down the offense by giving him just four or five plays to run, but frankly, offenses do not change that much from team to team. A pick-and-roll is a pick-and-roll, no matter what uniform you're wearing. And Utah made his job easier on Monday by how they defended it.
“They were daring guards to hit mid-range jump shots and that's what I'm able to do,” he said. “I just took what they gave me.”
Should the Pacers be unable to keep him, Price will have options. Performances like Monday's catch the eye of other NBA teams who might be in need of a point guard, and he has an offer to play in China, where so many other ex-NBA players migrate.
All he can do is wait and see what the next chapter brings.