Former Liberty guard Taelon Peter has finished his first professional season, playing with both the NBA’s Indiana Pacers and the G-League’s Noblesville Boom.
Peter, who was taken by the Pacers as the 54th overall pick in the second round of the 2025 NBA Draft last summer, became the third player in Liberty’s program history and the first in the Division I era to be selected in the NBA Draft. Peter is the first Flame selected in the draft in 40 years, when Cliff Webber was drafted in the fourth round by the Boston Celtics. With the selection, Peter becomes the highest NBA Draft pick in program history. Liberty’s other previous NBA Draft picks include Webber (1985/Round 4/Boston Celtics) and Ezra Hill (1984/Round 10/Phoenix Suns).
In the NBA with the Indiana Pacers
Peter played in 38 games with the Pacers, averaging 12.9 minutes, 4.5 points, 1.6 rebounds, 1.1 assists, and 0.7 steals per game. He also shot 38.0% from the field, 32.8% from three and 62.5% from the free throw line. He scored in double figures six times during the regular season, including a stretch of four straight games played from mid-February into early March. Peter’s career high for the Pacers this season was 16 points scored on Feb. 19 at Washington. He also made a career-high five threes against the Wizards and a career-high 5 rebounds. The following night, also against Washington, he played in a season high 37 minutes.
For players that finished their college careers at Liberty, Peter has now set high marks in all major categories for his NBA career already in one season. He owns career marks in games played, minutes played, field goals made and attempted, three point field goals made and attempted, total rebounds, assists, steals, blocks, and points. Julius Nwosu has more offensive rebounds (11) than Peter (10). Other than that, Peter has had the best NBA career of any player that finished their collegiate time playing at Liberty. Of course, Seth Curry also played his freshman season at Liberty before transferring to Duke. Curry has played in nearly 600 games across his NBA career.
In the G-League with the Noblesville Boom
Playing on a two-way contract, Peter also played for the Pacers’ G-League affiliate the Noblesville Boom. He played in 20 games (16 starts) for the Boom, averaging 14.9 points, 5.2 rebounds, 3.8 assists, and 1.5 steals per game. Peter shot 41.5% from the field, 36.3% from three and 95.2% from the free throw line. He had two 30-point games and recorded 14 games in double figures, while draining four or more three-pointers in nine contests this season.
Peter was the Conference USA Sixth Man of the Year in his one season playing at Liberty, averaging 13.7 points, four rebounds and one assist on 45.3% shooting from 3-point range. He led the country in true shooting percentage (72.4) and was 19th in player efficiency rating (27.2). He was the team’s leading scorer (13.7 ppg) on the year despite only starting two times. The guard shot 57.8 percent from the field and 45.3 percent from three. Peter’s three-point percentage during the 2024-25 season established a new school single-season record.
Peter had three games of 30 or more points, including a pair of 33-point games in league play on the road at Louisiana Tech and Middle Tennessee. His 33-point efforts were both the highest scoring output of any player off the bench in program history. He averaged 16.5 ppg in 18 league regular season games while shooting 58.6 percent from the field and 45.2 percent from three. The Russellville, Ark. native averaged 15.0 ppg on 76.2 percent shooting in three CUSA championship games. Peter and the Flames finished the year with a 28-7 overall record and 13-5 CUSA mark, winning both the CUSA regular season and tournament titles.
