You can also change the pan law in Pro Tools. SETUP>SESSION Pan Depth.
I'm not sure I agree with your conclusion that it's better to have one knob instead of two. Having two pan knobs is much better than having one since you have more options and you are not having to use a plugin to adjust the stereo balance IMO.
This was an interesting discussion on panning.
https://www.gearslutz.com/board/musi...ot-vs-2-a.html
You could also split your stereo track to 2 mono tracks if you prefer and adjust pan and level that way.