After reporting on Wednesday that the Pacers are “strongly weighing” a three-year offer worth upwards of $48MM for Max Strus, Marc Stein (Twitter links) cautions that the free agent wing shouldn’t be viewed as a slam dunk to end up in Indiana. While it seems likely that Strus will leave the Heat, there still appear to be multiple suitors in play for him, according to Stein.
Who might the Pacers pursue using their cap room if not Strus? Stein says Indiana has emerged as a team to watch in the Bruce Brown sweepstakes, joining the Lakers, Mavericks, and Nuggets, among others. Indiana will have the ability to offer either Strus or Brown more than the $12.4MM non-taxpayer mid-level exception that over-the-cap teams are limited to.
Here are a few more free agent rumors and notes from around the NBA:
- In addition to the Suns, Kyrie Irving has the Lakers, Sixers, and Heat on his list of teams to meet with in free agency, sources tell Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic. Based on Rankin’s wording, the cap situations for those teams, and a report that cast doubts on whether Kyrie’s meeting with Phoenix will actually happen, it sounds like that list of meetings may be aspirational rather than set in stone.
- Russell Westbrook won’t be in a rush to make a decision when free agency opens on Friday, so he’s unlikely to be one of the first players off the board, tweets Law Murray of The Athletic, adding that the former MVP isn’t a “dead set lock” to return to the Clippers.
- Johnny Juzang of the Jazz and Julian Champagnie of the Spurs are among the players on two-way contracts who received qualifying offers by Thursday’s deadline, making them restricted free agents, according to Keith Smith of Spotrac (Twitter links).
2 rounds of nba draft
5 rounds of free agents
Round 1: superstars and all stars
Round 2: Good players
Round 3: long term contracts
Round 4: contract worth the greater of $12.4 million
Round 5: rest of players
Brown and Strus are Round 3
Westbrook is Round 5
never thought I’d read “Bruce Brown sweepstakes” but here i am thrilled
It is for him. Get a ring then most recognition in career and then paid. He won the sweepstakes
Happy for Max Strussel, Gay Vincent and Omer Yutsevern these guys were undrafted nobody’s and gonna get paid! Heat finding diamonds in the rough… And yes all 3 of these dudes have flaws in their games, that’s why they went undrafted!!
Spell Red backwards then say it!!!!!!
Ok let’s start with Max Strus. Max Strussel is a hella cool nickname but let’s change the spelling to Max Streusel then make it stick. I’m not sure Gabe Vincent would appreciate the moniker of “Gay” Vincent no matter what his sexual preferences are. You were so close on Yurtseven I’ll let it slide. Finally der is red spelled backwards and I’d say it out loud but it would awfully close to “durr” so I’ll pass.
Teams should be wary of overpaying Brown just because of the recent Finals win.
Half of his salary should go to the Joker, who makes life way easier for him and everyone else.
Deandre Jordan had league-high FG% back with LAC, when he was on the receiving end of CP3 lobs and passes …….. plummeted when CP3 got traded.
More than a few teams scrambling over the remnants of the ’98 BULLS e.g. Buechler, Longley, etc and teams didn’t get anything special from them.
Remember when KD had his best games in the playoffs. If Bruce Brown wasn’t a Net, they would have lost in 5 instead of 7
Brown is a hustle defender that is why he will get paid.
Bruce Brown will be perfect for the Indiana Pacers. He’s a versatile Swiss Army Knife type of player and that’s exactly what they need.
I like Max Strus but I think they can get something better and Bruce Brown is the better player.