Pacers select Enrique Freeman with the 50th overall pick
(WISH) — The Indiana Pacers selected Enrique Freeman with the 50th overall pick in the 2024 NBA draft.
Freeman started his career as a walk-on and by his fifth year, he was the 2023-24 Mid American Conference (MAC) Player of the Year at Akron. He helped lead Akron to the MAC Tournament Championship and to the NCAA Tournament, where they lost in the first round to Creighton.
Freeman averaged 18.6 points per game, 12.9 rebounds per game, and 1.7 blocks per game.
“He’s obviously a terrific rebounder,” Pacers general manager Chad Buchanan said. “He’s got great length. (He) plays with an unbelievable motor and tenacity.”
Buchanan said one of the Pacers’ weaknesses last season was rebounding, and that Freeman has a special trait for grabbing boards that they wanted to take a chance on in the second round.
Freeman started to shoot more three-pointers this past season, shooting 37% from long range on 1.5 attempts per game. He only shot six total threes in his first four years at Akron.
Freeman is also a dominant player on the defensive end of the court, making the all-conference defensive team four times and won MAC Defensive Player of the Year in 2021-22.
The Pacers also took Kansas wing Johnny Furphy with the 35th overall pick and UConn point guard Tristen Newton with the 49th overall pick.
The Pacers went 47-35 in the regular season and made it to the Eastern Conference Finals last season, getting swept by the Boston Celtics.