Man, thinking about Danny Granger with the Pacers really takes me back. I remember watching him come up, you know? He wasn’t some instant superstar drafted top 3. He worked his way into becoming the guy for Indiana.
It felt like the whole franchise kind of put its chips on him for a while there. We watched him develop that smooth shot, saw him become an All-Star. He was scoring like crazy, carrying the team on his back a lot of nights. It was exciting, felt like we really had someone to build around after the Reggie Miller years and then the whole Malice aftermath faded a bit. The team identity started to form around him.
- He became the clear number one option.
- You saw the offense run through him constantly.
- He hit big shots, played tough.
Then Came the Injuries
And that’s where things got rough, really rough. It wasn’t just one thing, felt like his body started breaking down. That knee injury, especially. You kept hearing updates, hoping he’d come back the same player, but deep down, you kind of knew it was gonna be tough. It’s brutal seeing an athlete go through that, especially when they’re the heart of the team.
While he was out, things started shifting. Paul George really stepped up, didn’t he? You saw PG blossoming, taking on more responsibility, becoming a star himself. It was kind of weird watching it happen. You were happy for PG and the team getting better, but also sad for Danny, seeing his role just… evaporate because he couldn’t stay on the court.
The front office had a tough spot, right? They had this young core emerging with George and Hibbert and Lance Stephenson making noise. Granger was the established guy, the former leader, but he just wasn’t healthy. What do you do?
I remember the trade deadline when he got moved. It wasn’t exactly a shock, given the injuries and PG’s rise, but it still felt like the end of an era. Felt kinda cold, but that’s the business side of sports, I guess. They were chasing a title, and they made the move they thought gave them the best shot with the group they had then.
Looking back, it’s just one of those careers you think ‘what if’. What if he’d stayed healthy? Could he and PG have figured out how to play together long-term? We’ll never know. But I definitely remember Granger being that dude for the Pacers for a solid stretch. He put in the work and gave the fans some really exciting basketball before the injuries hit. A tough chapter in Pacers history, for sure.
