T.J. McConnell says he wasn't supposed to be in the Draft Combine: "If someone drops out, you're the first replacement"

T.J. McConnell says he wasn’t supposed to be in the Draft Combine: “If someone drops out, you’re the first replacement” originally appeared on Basketball Network.

Indiana Pacers backup guard T.J. McConnell faced a lot of obstacles as he was preparing for the NBA Draft in 2015. At 6’1″, he did not have the size of many of the top point guard prospects.

He also did not possess the elite athleticism that most draftees possessed. Because of that, T.J. almost did not get an opportunity to show his wares in the NBA Draft Combine in Chicago.

Well, he made it in the end, but not only did he have to pay for his own plane ticket going there, he also had to hope that one of the invitees did not show up because he was the No. 1 guy on the waiting list.

“My agent called me and was like, ‘You got to pay your way and you got to fly to Chicago.’ So I was in Arizona finishing up class and ‘You have to pay your way and you’re not in the Combine. But if someone drops out, you’re the first replacement,'” he said.

“So, I’m flying to Chicago, being like either I’m coming here for a getaway or vacation, or I’m going to the Combine,” recalled McConnell.

They were measuring physical attributes that T.J. didn’t have

His worries did not end there. Once he arrived, McConnell said he underwent physical testing where camp officials measured his hand size, wing span and vertical jump, among others.

For McConnell, it was almost discouraging because he knew that he would never match up to his fellow applicants in terms of physical attributes.

However, McConnell thought that once they got into the five-on-five scrimmages, NBA team officials and scouts would notice him because of the frenetic pace at which he plays on both ends of the court, as we saw in the 2025 NBA Finals.

T.J. said he played well enough in the scrimmage to get noticed. However, he still ended up getting undrafted in the 2015 NBA Draft, which made him feel bad, but not down.

“You’re a professional athlete,” he added. “You want to hear your name called on draft night. That’s like every kid’s dream. So when it didn’t happen, it was frustrating. But I obviously knew that nothing was ever going to be easy with my career. I had to kind of get it out of the mud.”

McConnell found his way to the Sixers

But getting undrafted turned out to be a blessing in disguise for McConnell because, according to him, he got the chance to pick where he wanted to play, thus giving himself the opportunity to make the roster. Philadelphia contacted him after the draft and asked him to go to their camp. He thought the Sixers were the perfect spot for his game and so he went there.

McConnell played 81 games as a rookie for the Sixers and he ended up averaging 6.1 points and 4.5 assists in 19.5 minutes of playing time, which, when translated to per 36 minutes stats, was 11.1 points and 8.2 assists per game. That was impressive for an undrafted and undersized guard. McConnell played out his Sixers contract and ended up signing a two-year $7 million deal with the Pacers in 2019. The rest is history.

After impressing the Pacers, he earned a four-year $35 million extension in 2021. And after he finished seventh in the Sixth Man of the Year voting in 2023-24, McConnell was one of the stars for the Pacers in the 2025 NBA Finals.

It was T.J. who carried Indiana when Tyrese Haliburton got hurt in Game 7. Although he could not win the title, that performance solidified McConnell’s place.

This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Jul 24, 2025, where it first appeared.

T.J. McConnell says he wasn’t supposed to be in the Draft Combine: “If someone drops out, you’re the first replacement”

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