Pacers To Guarantee Bojan Bogdanovic’s Salary

JUNE 29: The Pacers are guaranteeing Bogdanovic’s $10.5MM salary for the 2018/19 season, league sources confirm to Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). Today was the deadline for Indiana to waive Bogdanovic in order to avoid that guarantee.

JUNE 24: The Pacers plan to retain veteran forward Bojan Bogdanovic through his salary guarantee date later this week, a source familiar with the team’s plans tells Ben Gibson of 8Points9Seconds.com.

Having signed a two-year deal with Indiana last summer, Bogdanovic is under contract for the 2018/19 season, but his $10.5MM salary is currently only partially guaranteed for $1.5MM. The club could clear $9MM from its books for next season by waiving him before June 29, but apparently has no plans to do so.

[RELATED: NBA Salary Guarantee Dates For Summer 2018]

The Pacers’ intentions for Bogdanovic come as no surprise, since the former second-round pick excelled during his first season with the team, setting new career highs in PPG (14.3), FG% (.474), and 3PT% (.402), among other categories. Bogdanovic started 80 regular season games for Indiana, and the club would be comfortable keeping the 29-year-old in the starting lineup entering the 2018/19 campaign, Gibson writes.

Bogdanovic’s contract is structured similar to Darren Collison‘s, and the Pacers reportedly plan on guaranteeing the point guard’s 2018/19 salary as well. Keeping both players on the roster will reduce Indiana’s potential cap room this July, but the team should still have a good amount cap flexibility.

Even if Bogdanovic’s and Collison’s salaries become fully guaranteed and Thaddeus Young‘s player option is exercised, the Pacers’ guaranteed salaries for 2018/19 would only total about $78.6MM. The club also barely has any guaranteed money on its 2019/20 cap.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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