2018 NBA Offseason Salary Cap Digest: Indiana Pacers

The Pacers’ decision to send Paul George to Oklahoma City for Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis last summer received more criticism than just about any other trade or signing. With George poised to potentially leave OKC and Oladipo headed for a potential All-NBA nod, those reviews look misguided in retrospect. That deal was the first in a series of moves that set up the Pacers with enviable cap flexibility going forward.

Here’s where things currently stand for the Pacers financially, as we continue our Offseason Salary Cap Digest series for 2018:

Guaranteed Salary

• Victor Oladipo ($21,000,000)
• Cory Joseph ($7,945,000): Exercised player option
• Al Jefferson ($4,000,000) — Partial guarantee. Non-guaranteed portion noted below.¹
• Myles Turner ($3,410,284)
• Domantas Sabonis ($2,659,800)
• T.J. Leaf ($2,407,560)
• Monta Ellis ($2,245,400) — Waived via stretch provision
• Darren Collison ($2,000,000) — Partial guarantee. Non-guaranteed portion noted below.²
• Bojan Bogdanovic ($1,500,000) — Partial guarantee. Non-guaranteed portion noted below.³
• Ike Anigbogu ($690,000) — Partial guarantee. Non-guaranteed portion noted below.⁴
  
• Total: $47,858,044
  

Player Options

• Thaddeus Young ($13,764,045)
• Total: $13,764,045

Team Options

• Lance Stephenson ($4,360,000)
• Joe Young ($1,600,520)⁵
• Total: $5,960,520

Non-Guaranteed Salary

• Bojan Bogdanovic ($9,000,000) — Partial guarantee. Guaranteed portion noted above.³
• Darren Collison ($8,000,000) — Partial guarantee. Guaranteed portion noted above.²
• Al Jefferson ($6,000,000) — Partial guarantee. Guaranteed portion noted above.¹
• Alex Poythress ($1,544,951)⁶
• Ike Anigbogu ($688,242) — Partial guarantee. Guaranteed portion noted above.⁴
• Total: $25,233,193

Restricted Free Agents

• None

Unrestricted Free Agents / Other Cap Holds

• No. 23 overall pick ($1,895,624)
• Trevor Booker ($1,499,698): Non-Bird rights
• Glenn Robinson III ($1,499,698): Bird rights
• Total: $4,895,020

Projected Salary Cap: $101,000,000

Projected Cap Room: $14,602,734

• Few NBA teams have more wild cards affecting their cap situation than the Pacers, who entered the offseason with five players on non-guaranteed or partially guaranteed contracts and four more with player or team options.
• Our projection accounts for Indiana’s five fully guaranteed salaries, Thaddeus Young‘s player option, full salaries for Bogdanovic, Collison, and Anigbogu, Stephenson’s team option, and cap holds for the first-round pick and one empty roster spot. The result? A total team salary of $86,397,266.
• It goes without saying that things could much look different for Indiana. A big free agent splash seems unlikely, but if the team really wanted to clear space, it could renounce its free agents, decline some options, and waive its non-guaranteed contracts. With just their five guaranteed contracts, Young’s player option, and Anigbogu on the books, the Pacers could get up to nearly $35MM in cap space. Still, they’re unlikely to simply cut loose solid values like Stephenson, Bogdanovic, and Collison.

Footnotes:

1. Jefferson’s salary becomes fully guaranteed after July 2.
2. Collison’s salary becomes fully guaranteed after July 1.
3. Bogdanovic’s salary becomes fully guaranteed after June 29.
4. Anigbogu’s salary becomes fully guaranteed after July 15.
5. Young’s salary would still be non-guaranteed until July 1 if his option is exercised.
6. Poythress’ salary becomes fully guaranteed after July 25.

Note: Rookie scale cap holds are estimates based on salary cap projections and could increase or decrease depending on where the cap lands.

Salary information from Basketball Insiders was used in the creation of this post. Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.