Hoops Rumors is breaking down the 2019 offseason for all 30 NBA teams, revisiting the summer’s free agent signings, trades, draft picks, departures, and more. We’ll evaluate each team’s moves from the last several months and look ahead to what the 2019/20 season holds for all 30 franchises. Today, we’re focusing on the Indiana Pacers.
Signings:
- Standard contracts:
- Malcolm Brogdon: Four years, $85MM. Acquired via sign-and-trade using cap room.
- Jeremy Lamb: Three years, $31.5MM. Signed using cap room.
- T.J. McConnell: Two years, $7MM. Second year partially guaranteed ($1MM). Signed using cap room.
- Edmond Sumner: Three years, $6.48MM. Third-year team option. Re-signed using Early Bird rights.
- Justin Holiday: One year, $4.77MM. Signed using room exception.
- JaKarr Sampson: One year, minimum salary. Signed using minimum salary exception.
- Two-way contracts:
- Non-guaranteed camp contracts:
- Amida Brimah: One year, minimum salary (Waived).
- Jakeenan Gant: One year, minimum salary (Waived).
- Stephan Hicks: One year, minimum salary (Waived).
- Walt Lemon Jr.: One year, minimum salary (Waived).
- C.J. Wilcox: One year, minimum salary (Waived).
Trades:
- Acquired the Jazz’s 2021 second-round pick and cash ($1MM) from the Jazz in exchange for the draft rights to Jarrell Brantley (No. 50 pick).
- Acquired T.J. Warren, the Heat’s 2022 second-round pick, the Heat’s 2025 second-round pick, and the Heat’s 2026 second-round pick in a three-team trade with the Heat and Suns in exchange for cash ($1.1MM; to Suns).
- Acquired Malcolm Brogdon (sign-and-trade) from the Bucks in exchange for the Pacers’ 2020 first-round pick (top-14 protected), the Pacers’ 2021 second-round pick, and the Pacers’ 2025 second-round pick.
- Note: The Pacers’ 2021 second-round pick will convey one year after the Pacers’ 2020 second-round pick (traded to Nets; 45-60 protected through 2022; unprotected in 2023) conveys.
Draft picks:
- 1-18: Goga Bitadze — Signed to rookie contract.
Contract extensions:
- Domantas Sabonis: Four years, $74.9MM. Includes $10.4MM in incentives. Starts in 2020/21; runs through 2023/24.
Departing players:
- Bojan Bogdanovic
- Darren Collison (retired)
- Tyreke Evans (dismissed, disqualified from NBA)
- Cory Joseph
- Wesley Matthews
- Kyle O’Quinn
- Davon Reed (two-way)
- Thaddeus Young
Other offseason news:
- Reached 25-year deal to remain in Indianapolis.
- Victor Oladipo continues to rehab torn quad tendon; out to start season.
- Exercised 2020/21 options on Aaron Holiday, T.J. Leaf.
Salary cap situation:
- Used cap space; now over the cap.
- Hard-capped.
- Carrying approximately $114.59MM in guaranteed salary.
- No exceptions available.
Story of the summer:
The Pacers entered the offseason at an interesting crossroads. While franchise cornerstones like Victor Oladipo, Myles Turner, and Domantas Sabonis remained under contract, most of the rest of the team’s rotation headed to free agency this summer. Of the seven players who played the most minutes for Indiana in 2018/19, five were unrestricted free agents.
Re-signing most of those players would’ve been the safe move. After all, the Pacers were comfortably a top-five team in the East last season, and their ceiling could get even higher once Oladipo gets healthy, as Turner and Sabonis continue to improve.
Instead though, not one of those five key free agents returned to the Pacers on a new deal. In some cases, there was good reason for that — Darren Collison announced his retirement, while Tyreke Evans was dismissed and disqualified from the NBA for at least two years as a result of a drug violation. But it was still a little surprising to see so much turnover in Indiana.
The Pacers did well to fill out their roster around their top players through a series of free agent signings and trades, but there’s still a degree of uncertainty surrounding the franchise heading into the 2019/20 season.
Can Malcolm Brogdon carry the ball-handling load with Oladipo out? Will a starting frontcourt duo of Turner and Sabonis have its ups and downs? And just when will Oladipo be ready to return?
This is a well-coached team that still has plenty of talent on its roster, but with so many reliable veterans no longer in the mix, there will be a lot riding on the players the Pacers brought in to replace them.