Hoops Hobby

My number one focus in collecting at present is seeking autographs of every Pacer to ever appear in a regular season game, and on a card if possible. It’s something that doesn’t have to break the budget, often comes with cool interactions with former players, and goes hand in hand with learning about the history of the franchise.

The list is ever changing during the season as players are signed, traded, called up from the G League, signed to 10 day contracts, etc… It’s fun to track.

I’m up to the 11 players with last name starting with ‘L’, with Sidney Lowe being the last, at player number 205 alphabetically out of 389.

Autographs of Pacers with Last Name starting with ‘L’ – 6 of 11, 55% Complete

Up first, the Pacers I have autographs of so far.

Jerome Lane

Lane appeared in 3 games for the Pacers in 1992, following a 3+ season run with the Denver Nuggets where he started 77 games at power forward.

Lane played collegiately at Pitt before being taken by the Nuggets at 23 in the 1988 NBA Draft. He went to high school at St. Vincent St. Mary, the same high school as LeBron James.

As far as cards, Lane has some great early 90s cards as a Nugget, including 1991-92 Skybox. While he doesn’t have any Pacers cards, he does appear in the 2021 Finest basketball unlicensed release with an autograph card and a good number of parallels of that autograph card. Normally I don’t post cards here before I have them in hand, but in this case, I figured I’d share a copy of the Gold Refractor I grabbed off eBay that should be on it’s way at the time of this post going live.

This is the first card from the unlicensed Finest basketball sets I’ve picked up. I’m hopeful that we get some playing day photos of retired players in future Topps releases, a la the 2005-06 Topps Style Fan Favorites autographs.

Ty Lawson

Lawson was a solid point guard for the Nuggets for years after winning a National Championship at North Carolina. He averaged between 16 and 18 points a game and between 6 and 9 assists per game over a 4 year stretch between 2011 and 2015. He signed with the Pacers to serve as a backup point guard towards the end of the 2015-16 season, appearing in 13 regular season games, as well as all seven first round playoff games against the Raptors.

I had planned on having Lawson sign a Pacers custom as part of a private signing, but I didn’t get my act together in time for it, so maybe next time. For now, it’s a Nuggets card that doesn’t look too out of place among other Pacers cards. This is a thick card for a non-toploader binder to the point where I almost want to replace it. But until I get a Pacers custom, this one will do.

I added this 2012-13 Absolute Iconic Autographs card off COMC back in September of 2024, and waited awhile to have it shipped along with some other cards.

T.J. Leaf

Leaf’s rookie cards, and choices for autographs, are plentiful for his 2017-18 rookie season. I waited awhile before settling on this Panini Instant Metal on-card autograph, signed during the 2017 NBA rookie photo shoot. There’s also a Green version out of 10 and a Black 1/1. When there’s a unique on-card autograph to be had, and one that’s affordable in the case of T.J. Leaf, it’s an easy choice for the autograph project binder.

Leaf never averaged more than 9 minutes per game for the Pacers, and played in 7 games for the Trail Blazers in his last NBA season during the 2020-21 season.

A first round pick out of UCLA, Leaf was a McDonald’s All-American, runner up for California Mr. Basketball to Lonzo Ball in 2017, and he currently plays in the Chinese Basketball Association.

Jalen Lecque

Lecque appeared in five games for the suns in 2019-20 and four games for the Pacers during the 2020-21 season after being traded in November 2020 as part of the trade that took T.J. Leaf to Phoenix.

Despite only appearing in four games for the Pacers, he is shown in a Pacers uniform in 2020-21 Donruss Optic. This Signature Series autograph is the purple parallel, but it’s close enough to blue that it looks like it fits the Pacers pretty well. Happy to have this one in the autograph binder.

Caris LeVert

Caris LeVert comes off the Paul George trade tree, and is a scorer capable of dropping 30 on any given night if he gets hot. After starting his career with the Nets, the Pacers acquired LeVert as part of a 4 team trade where James Harden moved from the Rockets to the Nets, Jarrett Allen moved to the Cavaliers (a then underrated piece of that trade), and Victor Oladipo moved to the Rockets.

LeVert played in parts of two seasons for the Pacers before being traded to Cleveland for picks that eventually became Andrew Nembhard and Ben Sheppard.

Freddie Lewis

How Freddie Lewis isn’t in the Basketball Hall of Fame, I am not sure. A three-time ABA All-Star and member of the league’s 30 player all-time team, he’s a key part of the history of the league and of the Pacers. He was a lead guard on the 3 ABA title Pacer teams.

This is one card that, while I appreciate the on-card SP Authentic brand as well as the Sign of the Times lineage, needs an upgrade in my collection. Lewis is a great TTM signer, with a small fee. Would love to add a Pacers card from a 70s Topps set to my autograph binder.

And now, on to players that I don’t have an autograph for, yet.

Certified Non-Pacers Autographs

Jeremy Lamb – Lamb’s ceiling during his playing career came as part of the 2018-19 Charlotte Hornets, where he averaged over 15 points a game for a frisky Kemba Walker-led team that finished 9th in the Eastern conference.

Despite being a member of the Pacers for 2 and 1/2 seasons and having plenty of Pacers cards, nearly all of his autograph cards are from 2012-13. He’s in some great sets in those early Panini years, and he has some nice first year of Select rookie autographs, but those are all in either Rockets or Thunder uniforms.

Lamb is a player that I’ve delayed picking up an autograph of just because I know they are available, but none of the certified options are enticing enough.

John Long – Long is new to this category, with Pistons certified autograph cards appearing in 2024-25 Donruss. Long has a really nice signature, that ideally would look great on some of his late 80s Pacers cards.

While I don’t have a direct reference with a video, I recall Reggie Miller speaking of John Long being a big influence in the early part of Reggie’s career. Long started 81 games during Reggie’s rookie year.

Long averaged nearly 22 points per game while shooting nearly 50% from the floor during the 1981-82 season with Detroit. He returned to Detroit during the 1989 season and won a championship that year with the Pistons.

After several years in the CBA, he finished his career in the 1996-97 season with the Raptors, then 41 years old. He scored over 12,000 career points during his long, successful career.

Players with Pacers Cards

Sidney Lowe – I remember Lowe best as being the head coach for NC State men’s basketball, wearing a red suit, wolfpack colors. His time as head coach happened to align with my time in school at Virginia Tech, so I am sure I saw him on the sidelines for NC State. Around that 5 year stint as head coach, Lowe’s been a head and assistant coach for several NBA franchises. He was the head coach of the Timberwolves and Grizzlies, an assistant with the Cavaliers under Mike Fratello in the 90s, and an assistant with the Timberwolves, Wizards, Pistons, and Jazz.

Lowe started his playing career with the Pacers after being selected by the Bulls with the 1st pick in the 2nd round of the 1983 draft and being traded to the Pacers. He also played for the Pistons, Hawks, Hornets, and Timberwolves, and spent time in the Continental Basketball Association (CBA) as well.

He appears in the 1983-84 Star basketball set as a Pacer, and that’s the card I would want signed for my autograph project if possible. I do happen to own a NC State Lowe card (unsigned), so I figured I would share that in this post.

Players with Non-Pacers Cards

Dwight ‘Bo’ Lamar – The #1 pick in the 1973 ABA draft, point guard Bo Lamar led Southwestern Louisiana to a 90-23 collegiate record. He played under coach Wilt in his rookie season, averaging over 20 points per game.

He appears in 1974-75 Topps with the team that drafted him, the San Diego Conquistadors, and in 1975-76 Topps with the San Diego franchise, then the Sails.

The Pacers acquired Lamar during the dispersal draft for the Sails. With Indiana, Lamar averaged over 21 points per game for the remainder of the 1975-76 season, the last ABA season. The Pacers moved Lamar to the Lakers for the 1976-77 season, where Lamar played in 71 games.

Mike Lewis

After a collegiate career at Duke, Lewis spent his entire pro-career among several ABA franchises, including the Pacers, Minnesota/Pittsburgh Pipers, Pittsburgh Condors, and Carolina Cougars. He averaged a career double-double during his time in the ABA, with 12.1 ppg and 11.9 rpg, earning ABA All-Star honors for the 1969-70 and 1970-71 seasons.

Lewis is included in several iconic basketball sets from his time in the ABA. His rookie card is in 1971-72 Topps with a nice green background. He’s featured on a league leaders card from the same set along with Pacers center Mel Daniels. His 3rd card from 1971-72 is on a Trio sticker with Joe Caldwell and Louie Dampier. He is also in other key 70s sets in 1972-73 and 1973-74.

Do you have any memories of players on this list?

Any autograph projects out there? I want to hear about them and would be interested in featuring them here on the blog!