The Indiana Pacers needed a hardship exception to sign A.J. Price as the 16th player on their roster, but he made his case to stay with the team in the long run with a 22 point performance in the Pacers’ win over the Utah Jazz.

A week ago Price was thinking about heading to China to play, but on Monday night he was making 66.7% of his shots and hitting 3 of 4 from 3-point range. Price exposed the poor defense of Utah as he was able to both create his own shot and move without the ball to set himself up for his long range attempts.

Indiana’s offense is missing its usual playmakers, making the exceptional performance of Price not only enjoyable to watch but critical to Indiana’s victory. Price’s play right now he certainly looks like much more than just a placeholder, but only time will tell if Larry Bird and Frank Vogel want to keep him around. If nothing else he have Pacers fans a bright spot in a rough start to the season.