Taelon Joseph Peter (born February 27, 2002) is an American professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player for the

Indiana Pacers The Indiana Pacers are an American professional basketball team based in Indianapolis. The Pacers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), Ea ...

of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

(NBA), on a

two-way contract A two-way contract is a professional sports contract that stipulates that an athlete's salary is dependent upon the league in which the athlete is assigned to play. This is opposed to a one-way contract that would pay the same salary regardless o ...

with the

Noblesville Boom The Noblesville Boom are an American professional basketball team based in Noblesville, Indiana that competes in the NBA G League. The Boom are the affiliate team of the NBA's Indiana Pacers and, since 2025, they have played their home games at ...

of the

NBA G League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is a professional basketball league in North America that serves as the Minor league#Basketball, developmental league of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The league comprises 31 teams; as of ...

. He played

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

for the

Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles The Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles are the intercollegiate athletic teams of Tennessee Technological University (TTU), located in Cookeville, Tennessee, United States. The TTU athletic program is a member of the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) and ...

Arkansas Tech Wonder Boys The Arkansas Tech Wonder Boys and Golden Suns are the athletic teams that represent Arkansas Tech University in Russellville, Arkansas. They are a charter member of the Great American Conference of the NCAA Division II. Conference affiliati ...

, and

Liberty Flames The Liberty Flames and Lady Flames are the athletics teams of Liberty University, in Lynchburg, Virginia, United States. They are a member of the NCAA Division I level in 20 sports. As of July 1, 2023, LU is a member of Conference USA (CUSA) fo ...

. He was selected by the Pacers in the second round of the

2025 NBA draft The 2025 NBA draft was the 79th edition of the National Basketball Association's (NBA) annual draft. Like the 2024 draft, this draft took place over two nights. The draft consisted of 59 picks as opposed to the full 60 due to the New York Knick ...

Early life and high school career

Peter was born on February 27, 2002, and grew up in

Russellville, Arkansas Russellville is the county seat of and the largest city in Pope County, Arkansas, United States, with a 2022 estimated population of 29,133. It is home to Arkansas Tech University. Arkansas Nuclear One, Arkansas' only nuclear power plant is nea ...

. He attended Russellville High School where he competed in

and

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

as a

high jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

er. He won two state championships in the high jump and in basketball, averaged 16 points per game as a

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

. He was all-state in track and field and was named the Class 5A West Player of the Year, River Valley Now Player of the Year, all-state and all-conference in basketball. After high school, he signed to play

for

Tennessee Tech Tennessee Technological University (commonly referred to as Tennessee Tech) is a public research university in Cookeville, Tennessee. It was formerly known as Tennessee Polytechnic Institute, and before that as University of Dixie, the name unde ...

in 2020.

College career

Peter only played six games as a

freshman A freshman, fresher, first year, or colloquially frosh, is a person in the first year at an educational institution, usually a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational in ...

for Tennessee Tech in 2020–21 before transferring to the

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is the intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environment ...

-level

. He averaged 10 points playing in 25 games off the bench for Arkansas Tech in 2021–22. He then became a starter in 2022–23, averaging 15.5 points while making 44% of his shots. In 2023–24, he was named the

Great American Conference The Great American Conference (GAC) is a List of NCAA conferences, college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the NCAA Division II, Division II level, with headquarters located in Russellvil ...

(GAC) Player of the Year and first-team All-GAC after averaging 18.5 points and starting every game for the Wonder Boys. Peter finished his three-year stint at Arkansas Tech with overall averages of 15 points and 5.2 rebounds and transferred to the

for his final year of eligibility in 2024–25. In one season with the Flames, he averaged 13.7 points and four rebounds, being selected third-team All-

Conference USA Conference USA (CUSA) is a collegiate athletic conference of member institutions in the Southern and Western United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. CUSA's offices are located in Dallas, Texas. Mem ...

and the Conference USA Sixth Man of the Year. He led the conference in

free throw In basketball, free throws or foul shots are unopposed attempts to score points by shooting from behind the free-throw line (informally known as the foul line or the charity stripe), a line situated at the end of the restricted area. Free throws ...

percentage and also was the national leader with a true shooting percentage of .724, "a statistic that combines field goal and free throw shooting proficiency".

Professional career

Indiana Pacers / Noblesville Boom (2025–present)

Peter was selected by the

in the second round (54th overall) of the

Career statistics

College

NCAA Division I

, - , style="text-align:left;",

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

, style="text-align:left;",

, 6 , , 0 , , 8.2 , , .286 , , .200 , , — , , .2 , , .5 , , .2 , , .0 , , 1.7 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2024–25 , style="text-align:left;",

Liberty Liberty is the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one's way of life, behavior, or political views. The concept of liberty can vary depending on perspective and context. In the Constitutional ...

, 35 , , 2 , , 22.7 , , .578 , , .453 , , .773 , , 4.0 , , 1.0 , , .9 , , .1 , , 13.7 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 41 , , 2 , , 20.6 , , .564 , , .439 , , .773 , , 3.5 , , 1.0 , , .8 , , .1 , , 11.9

NCAA Division II

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2021–22 , style="text-align:left;", Arkansas Tech , 25 , , 7 , , 26.7 , , .503 , , .406 , , .809 , , 4.0 , , 1.8 , , 1.1 , , .2 , , 10.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2022–23 , style="text-align:left;", Arkansas Tech , 31 , , 30 , , 33.4 , , .437 , , .326 , , .793 , , 5.5 , , 1.7 , , 1.8 , , .5 , , 15.5 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2023–24 , style="text-align:left;", Arkansas Tech , 32 , , 32 , , 35.0 , , .499 , , .409 , , .868 , , 5.8 , , 2.3 , , 1.8 , , .5 , , 18.5 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 88 , , 69 , , 32.1 , , .475 , , .373 , , .833 , , 5.2 , , 2.0 , , 1.6 , , .4 , , 15.0

References

External links

Liberty Flames bioArkansas Tech Wonder Boys bioTennessee Tech Golden Eagles bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Peter, Taelon 2002 births Living people American men's basketball players Arkansas Tech Wonder Boys basketball players Basketball players from Arkansas Indiana Pacers draft picks Liberty Flames basketball players People from Russellville, Arkansas Shooting guards Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles men's basketball players