FMVP Fifth?! How 33-Year-Old T.J. McConnell Became a Finals Force in the Shadows

You don’t often find NBA Finals headlines dominated by bench guards standing at just 6'1". You don’t usually hear the words “Finals MVP” and “T.J. McConnell” in the same breath. And yet here we are: six games into an electrifying series between the Indiana Pacers and the Oklahoma City Thunder, with the league's official Finals MVP ladder placing McConnell in the fifth spot—behind the usual suspects like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, Pascal Siakam, and Tyrese Haliburton.

Is McConnell actually going to win the Finals MVP? Almost certainly not. But let’s be clear: just seeing his name in that top five is an emphatic declaration of how monumental his contributions have been to Indiana’s championship push. He’s not the face on the billboard, but he might be the engine behind the machine.

G6 Brilliance: Defying Gravity, Logic, and Expectations

Game 6 might go down as one of the most balanced, brutal, and beautiful battles in recent Finals memory. The Pacers edged out the Thunder, setting the stage for a Game 7 finale that already feels historic. And while the box score tells a story of Tyrese Haliburton’s clutch gene and Siakam’s veteran calm, you need to look a bit closer—specifically, at number 9 in blue and gold.

T.J. McConnell logged 23 minutes and packed them to the brim: 12 points on 6-of-12 shooting (no threes, no free throws), 9 rebounds, 6 assists, and 4 steals. That +10 plus-minus? Tied for best among Pacers starters and bench. He opened the second quarter—the period in which Indiana cracked the game open—with 8 straight points of his own. And these weren’t transition freebies or layup-line drills. We’re talking about fadeaways over Jalen Williams, spin moves on Andrew Wiggins, and pull-ups in Kenrich Williams’ face.

McConnell, standing at 6'1", somehow grabbed more rebounds than everyone not named Isaiah Jackson. He also led both teams in assists and tied the Thunder—for the entire game—in steals. One man, off the bench, matching a Finals-caliber team in takeaways.

And this isn’t some one-off story. McConnell has been doing this all series.

Game-by-Game Mastery

Here’s what McConnell has done in this Finals, one surgical game at a time:

• Game 1: 9 points, 4 assists, 1 steal, 4-of-6 shooting

• Game 2: 11 points, 3 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals, 5-of-7 shooting

• Game 3: 10 points, 5 assists, 5 steals — becoming the first bench player in Finals history to post 10+ points, 5+ assists, and 5+ steals

• Game 4: 8 points, 2 assists

• Game 5 (Loss): 18 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, team-high +4

• Game 6: 12 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists, 4 steals

Through six games:
11.3 points, 3.2 rebounds, 4.5 assists, 2.3 steals per game
Shooting splits: 53.7% FG / 60.0% 3P / 77.8% FT
Efficiency? Terrifying.

Let’s talk midrange, where McConnell lives like a time traveler from a pre-analytics era. He’s shooting 64% on two-point shots outside of 8 feet in these playoffs—yes, you read that right. That’s KD-level efficiency in one of the league’s most inefficient zones. From 10–14 feet, he’s hit 8-of-12 in the Finals. Floaters, fadeaways, jump stops—it’s all in the bag.

Defensive Menace in a Mismatch League

Offense aside, McConnell has quietly wrecked Thunder ball-handlers with surgical precision. His defensive matchup stats in the Finals are downright absurd:

• Cason Wallace, Wiggins, Caruso, Isaiah Joe (combined): 10-of-30 shooting when guarded by McConnell

• Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: 1-of-6 FG, 3 points, 1 turnover in 15 possessions

• Jalen Williams: 1-of-4 FG, 5 points in 13 possessions

Against two of the league’s best ISO scorers, McConnell has been an impenetrable wall. He’s forcing bad shots, crowding passing lanes, and—most remarkably—doing it without fouling.

The Pacers’ defense, often criticized during the regular season, has found its spine in McConnell. He isn’t long. He isn’t springy. He isn’t built like a tank. But his footwork, anticipation, and absolute tenacity are killing Oklahoma City’s rhythm at its source.

The Advanced Metrics Love Him

Indiana’s coaching staff has leaned into a hard-nosed identity during this playoff run, and McConnell is their emotional thermostat. In this series, the Pacers are +27 in the 96 minutes McConnell has played. In the 192 minutes he’s sat? -18. That’s not coincidence. That’s causation.

Then there’s this from the Pacers' media team:
McConnell is the first bench player in Finals history to post 60+ points, 25+ assists, 15+ rebounds, and 14 steals in a series.

Read that again. He’s making history while coming off the bench, at 33 years old.

From Undrafted to Undeniable

The story of T.J. McConnell is a love letter to resilience.

• Undrafted in 2015

• Undersized at every level of basketball

• Undervalued by the modern game due to a lack of three-point range

• Overlooked by scouts and executives more obsessed with wingspans than wins

And yet, he’s carved out a 10-year career in the NBA, made millions, and now finds himself playing the best basketball of his life on the sport’s biggest stage. He still can’t shoot threes reliably. He still plays below the rim. But he plays smarter, harder, and tougher than almost anyone in the league.

After Game 6, McConnell summed it up best:
“I’m not the strongest. I’m not the fastest. But nobody works harder than I do. That’s always been my belief.”

Hard work is a talent. McConnell is living proof.

Legacy Game Incoming

As Game 7 looms, we’re talking about career-defining moments for everyone involved. For Gilgeous-Alexander, it’s about claiming superstardom. For Haliburton, it’s about elevation. For Siakam, it's validation. And for T.J. McConnell?

It’s immortality.

No, he probably won’t win Finals MVP. But when the dust settles and history is written, McConnell’s name will be there. Right beside the legends. Right beside the box scores. Right beside the moments that made Indiana believe.

Because sometimes the smallest guy on the floor makes the biggest difference.