- It makes sense for the Pacers to move Domantas Sabonis if he doesn’t mesh well with Myles Turner in the Pacers’ starting lineup, Sam Vecenie of The Athletic opines. Indiana is reportedly shopping Sabonis because extension talks have gone nowhere. The team should see if they can play together but if it doesn’t work, there’s no need to tie up a chunk of the team’s cap space on two centers, Vecenie continues, especially since it drafted another center in June.
- Sabonis expressed his disappointment about the extension negotiations and subsequent trade rumors on Saturday, Forbes’ Tony East tweets. “Theres not really much to talk about. I know exactly how the Pacers feel about me now,” Sabonis said. “They know how I feel about that. There’s not much more to say. I’ll let my agents do the rest of it, we’ll see what happens.”
Two days after signing him, the Pacers have waived swingman Stephan Hicks, per Scott Agness of The Athletic (Twitter link).
Hicks has spent the last several seasons playing for the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, recording 15.4 PPG and 6.9 RPG in 48 games (32.6 MPG) for the team in 2018/19.
The 27-year-old is expected to return to Indiana’s G League affiliate for the 2019/20 season. His brief stint with the Pacers should ensure that he earns a bonus worth up to $50K once he spends 60 days with the Mad Ants.
The Pacers now have 17 players under contract — 15 on the standard roster and two on two-way deals.
If the Pacers and Domantas Sabonis are able to bridge the gap in contract negotiations and finalize an extension for the big man by Monday’s deadline, count on it being worth more than the four-year, $72MM deal Myles Turner signed a year ago, says ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Insider link). Sources tell Marks that the terms Turner received on his rookie scale extension are considered a “non-starter” when it comes to Sabonis’ next deal.
As we relayed on Friday night, a report from The Athletic indicated that the Pacers are exploring trade options involving Sabonis, since the two sides remain far apart in extension talks. However, Indiana’s asking price in those trade discussions reportedly remains too high so far.
Victor Oladipo will begin participating in some full-contact 5-on-5 half-court scrimmages in the coming days but he still has more hurdles to clear before he’ll return to action, Tyler Kraft and Nathan Brown of the Indianapolis Star report. The Pacers have yet to announce a target date for the star guard, who suffered a ruptured quad tendon last season.
“He’s been doing some things 1-on-1,” Pacers head coach Nate McMillan said. “But this is a good sign. They’re going slowly to try to work him into being able to go every day, but it’s good news to know he’ll be able to participate in that first part of practice.”
The Pacers are in active trade talks regarding big man Domantas Sabonis, Sam Amick of The Athletic reports.
Indiana has engaged Sabonis in extension talks but the two parties are far apart, convincing the front office to explore the trade market for the fourth-year forward. The Pacers are in negotiations with several teams regarding Sabonis, who averaged 14.1 PPG, 9.3 RPG and 2.9 APG last season. The Pacers’ asking price in talks has been too high, according to Amick’s sources.
Sabonis is making just $3.5MM this season and would become a restricted free agent next summer if no extension agreement is reached by Monday’s deadline.
The Pacers have some long-term salary cap concerns. They have a handful of players signed through at least the 2020/21 season making $10MM or more. Center Myles Turner received a four-year, $72MM extension before the end of last year’s training camp. Turner and Sabonis are expected to play together in the starting lineup despite concerns their skills might overlap.
The Pacers also added guard Malcolm Brogdon on a four-year, $85MM contract in a sign-and-trade with Milwaukee and handed Jeremy Lamb a three-year, $31.5MM deal in free agency.
The Pacers have signed Stephan Hicks, according to Scott Agness of The Athletic (Twitter link). Hicks’ deal is likely an Exhibit 10 pact.
Hicks spent the past four seasons with the Mad Ants, Indiana’s G League squad. He’ll likely find his way to the G League yet again this season, earning an Exhibit 10 bonus as an affiliate player for the Mad Ants.
Hicks played his college ball at California State University. The guard will turn 28 turn during the 2019/20 season.
The Pacers have removed three players from their roster, announcing today in a press release that they’ve waived Walt Lemon Jr., Amida Brimah, and C.J. Wilcox.
All three players were in Indiana on non-guaranteed contracts, so the team won’t have to take on any dead money as a result of today’s cuts.
Lemon and Brimah are on track to join the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, since the Pacers’ G League affiliate has acquired both players’ returning rights. Wilcox is expected to join them, per Scott Agness of The Athletic (Twitter link).
The Pacers now have 17 players under contract, including 15 on guaranteed salaries and two on two-way deals. The roster is essentially regular-season-ready, but it’s possible the team will continue to make moves this week as it secures affiliate players for the Mad Ants.
Pacers players are eager to praise the culture in Indiana, with Malcolm Brogdon referring to the front office as a “very transparent group,” while Victor Oladipo calls president of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard and GM Chad Buchanan “very interactive,” per Jonathan Abrams of Bleacher Report. As Abrams details, the Pacers’ decision-makers believe in open communication with their players and have promised to inform those players if they’re engaged in any serious trade talks involving them.
“There’s a little bit of quid pro quo, because if we do that and then the trade doesn’t go through, guys can check out,” Pritchard said. “When we say it’s at the five-yard line, you’re going to hear it from us. But if it doesn’t work out, you still have to have both feet in on the Pacers.
Pritchard and Buchanan told Abrams that they had conversations with Al Jefferson and Darren Collison in recent years about deals that nearly came to fruition, though neither trade ultimately happened.
“Their agents probably appreciate it as much as the player, [but] there’s downsides to it,” Pritchard said. “There’s no doubt there’s potential downsides. But I think there’s an upside in that if you come here, that you’re going to be told the truth.”
Abrams’ piece is a good read that’s worth checking out in full, particularly for Pacers fans. Here’s more out of Indiana:
- Speaking to Abrams, Pritchard pushed back against the idea that the Pacers drafted big man Goga Bitadze in June with an eye toward trading him. “A lot of people thought we did that with Goga. I still don’t understand that,” Pritchard said. “… We felt like Goga was the best player on the board. In the draft, you don’t want to hit a single. If you’re hitting a single in the draft and keep hitting singles in the draft, you’re going to be average at best in a low-revenue market. Big-revenue market, it’s still important, but not quite as.”
- Domantas Sabonis is “known to be in active talks” with the Pacers about a possible rookie scale extension, writes Marc Stein of The New York Times. If the two sides don’t finalize a deal by 5:00pm CT on October 21, Sabonis will become a restricted free agent next summer.
- After signing Walt Lemon Jr. last week, the Pacers acquired the guard’s G League rights today, according to a press release from the Fort Wayne Ants, Indiana’s NBAGL affiliate. Lemon appears likely to be waived by the Pacers in the next few days and then report to Fort Wayne.
Pacers’ first-round pick Goga Bitadze will make his preseason debut on Tuesday, Mark Monteith of the team’s website relays. The Euro big man missed the first three preseason games with an ankle injury. He’s slated as the main backup at center with Myles Turner and Domantas Sabonis projected as starters. “That’s kind of where we’ve got him at,” coach Nate McMillan said. “We’ll see as we get into the season what the rotation is going to look like.”
The 2019/20 NBA regular season will get underway in less than two weeks, which means it’s time to start getting serious about predictions for the upcoming campaign.
With the help of the lines from a handful of sports betting sites, including Bovada and BetOnline, we’re running through the predicted win totals for each of the NBA’s 30 teams, by division. In a series of team-by-team polls, you’ll get the chance to weigh in on whether you think those forecasts are too optimistic or too pessimistic.
Having already looked at the Atlantic and Northwest, we’re moving onto the Central today…
Milwaukee Bucks
- 2018/19 record: 60-22
- Over/under for 2019/20: 57.5 wins
- Major offseason moves:
Trade Rumors app users, click here for Bucks poll.
Indiana Pacers
- 2018/19 record: 48-34
- Over/under for 2019/20: 46.5 wins
- Major offseason moves:
- Added: Malcolm Brogdon, T.J. Warren, Jeremy Lamb, Justin Holiday, T.J. McConnell, Goga Bitadze, JaKarr Sampson
- Lost: Bojan Bogdanovic, Thaddeus Young, Cory Joseph, Darren Collison, Wesley Matthews, Tyreke Evans, Kyle O’Quinn
Trade Rumors app users, click here for Pacers poll.
Detroit Pistons
- 2018/19 record: 41-41
- Over/under for 2019/20: 37.5 wins
- Major offseason moves:
- Added: Derrick Rose, Markieff Morris, Tony Snell, Sekou Doumbouya, Tim Frazier, Christian Wood, Joe Johnson
- Lost: Ish Smith, Wayne Ellington, Glenn Robinson III, Jon Leuer, Jose Calderon, Zaza Pachulia
Trade Rumors app users, click here for Pistons poll.
Chicago Bulls
- 2018/19 record: 22-60
- Over/under for 2019/20: 33.5 wins
- Major offseason moves:
- Added: Thaddeus Young, Tomas Satoransky, Coby White, Luke Kornet, Daniel Gafford
- Lost: Robin Lopez, Antonio Blakeney, Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot, Wayne Selden, Walt Lemon Jr.
Trade Rumors app users, click here for Bulls poll.
Cleveland Cavaliers
- 2018/19 record: 19-63
- Over/under for 2019/20: 24.5 wins
- Major offseason moves:
- Added: Darius Garland, Dylan Windler, Kevin Porter Jr.
- Lost: David Nwaba, J.R. Smith, Nik Stauskas, Channing Frye, Marquese Chriss
Trade Rumors app users, click here for Cavaliers poll.
Previous voting results:
- Philadelphia 76ers (54.5 wins): Over (54.9%)
- Boston Celtics (49.5 wins): Under (57.0%)
- Toronto Raptors (46.5 wins): Under (59.1%)
- Brooklyn Nets (43.5 wins): Over (58.3%)
- New York Knicks (27.5 wins): Under (54.9%)
- Denver Nuggets (53.5 wins): Over (51.8%)
- Utah Jazz (53.5 wins): Under (50.8%)
- Portland Trail Blazers (46.5 wins): Over (78.7%)
- Minnesota Timberwolves (35.5 wins): Under (57.5%)
- Oklahoma City Thunder (32.5 wins): Under (55.1%)