The Pacers have officially signed first-round pick Goga Bitadze to his rookie contract, tweets Scott Agness of The Athletic. NBA.com’s transactions log confirms that the move has been finalized.
A Georgian-born center, Bitadze was the 18th overall pick in last month’s draft and was the second international player to come off the board, behind Sekou Doumbouya.
Bitadze’s selection raised some eyebrows, since the Pacers already had centers Myles Turner and Domantas Sabonis on their roster. However, with Turner and Sabonis expected to start alongside one another in Indiana’s frontcourt, Bitadze is in position to earn rotation minutes as a backup at the five.
Assuming he signed for the maximum allowable 120% of the rookie scale, Bitadze will earn about $2.82MM in his rookie year, and a total of approximately $13.64MM over the life of his four-year contract.
As our draft pick signing tracker shows, Chuma Okeke of the Magic is now the only first-round pick who has yet to sign his rookie contract.