Notre Dame forward Nate Laszewski signs Summer League deal with Indiana Pacers
Notre Dame forward Nate Laszewski has signed a Summer League deal with the Indiana Pacers, according to a report from NBA insider Chris Haynes.
Laszewski played five season with the Fighting Irish, averaging 10.0 points and 5.8 rebounds for his career. This past season, he averaged 13.7 points and 6.3 rebounds per game for Notre Dame.
He is from a basketball family. His father, Jay Laszewski, played college basketball at Wisconsin in the 1980s. His sister, Abby Laszewski, also played basketball for the Badgers.
Laszewski went to the high school at Northfield (Mass.) Northfield Mount Hermon, where he was a four-star recruit.
Indiana Pacers were wheeling and dealing during the NBA Draft
Before signing Nate Laszewski as undrafted free agent, the Indiana Pacers made a lot of draft day moves during the actual 2023 NBA Draft.
Indiana had the No. 7 pick in the draft but traded back one spot and took Houston forward Jarace Walker with the pick.
“I would say a hard worker and a versatile defender and just a versatile all-around defender as well. There’s a lot of things I can do on the basketball court,” Walker said when asked what the Pacers were getting. “They’ll see that when I get to the team, with practices and just more games under my belt once I start getting more comfortable.”
After Walker, the team ended up with three other players in the draft.
They took Belmont guard Ben Sheppard at No. 26 and Miami guard Isaiah Wong at No. 55. They also traded out of the No. 40 pick, after previously trading out of the No. 29 and No. 32 picks in a deal with the Denver Nuggets on Wednesday. It left them with the No. 47 pick where they snagged New Zealand guard Mojave King out of the NBA G League Ignite.
“Sheppard brings effort defensively with length to bother many traditional guards,” RotoWire’s scouting report on Sheppard reads. “His overall offensive game isn’t overly creative, but he is an NBA-caliber shooter. Sheppard set career highs with 2.9 assists and 1.4 steals per game as a senior. Continuing to round his game could unlock a rotational role for the 21-year-old. Sheppard is young for his class, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see a team fall in love with his shooting and size somewhere in the top 40 picks of the draft.”