Indiana Pacers Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Pacers Sign T.J. McConnell

July 29th, 2019 at 12:31pm CST by Luke Adams

JULY 29: Nearly four weeks after agreeing to terms with him, the Pacers have officially signed McConnell, the team confirmed today (via Twitter).

JULY 3: The Pacers have reached an agreement to sign free agent point guard T.J. McConnell, a league source tells ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link). According to Wojnarowski (via Twitter), it’ll be a two-year, $7MM deal.

McConnell, who went undrafted out of Arizona in 2015, caught on with the Sixers and spent his first four NBA seasons in Philadelphia before becoming an unrestricted free agent this summer.

In 2018/19, McConnell averaged 6.4 PPG, 3.4 APG, and 2.3 RPG while shooting a career-high 52.5% from the floor in 76 games (19.3 MPG). However, the 27-year-old fell out of Philadelphia’s rotation in the postseason, logging just 18 total minutes in the club’s seven-game series vs. Toronto.

With Darren Collison retiring and Cory Joseph heading to Sacramento this offseason, the Pacers have addressed the point guard position by agreeing to acquire Malcolm Brogdon in a sign-and-trade, coming to terms on a new deal with Edmond Sumner, and now reaching an agreement with McConnell. Last year’s first-round pick Aaron Holiday is also on track to return to help fill out the depth chart.

As ESPN’s Bobby Marks observes (via Twitter), the Pacers projected to have a little over $5MM available in cap room before their deal with McConnell. He could be signed using some of that space, or the team could wait and fit his contract into its $4.8MM room exception.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Teams Inquired On Myles Turner Before, After Draft

July 29th, 2019 at 10:10am CST by Luke Adams

Teams contacted the Pacers both before and after last month’s draft to inquire about center Myles Turner, sources tell Ian Begley of SNY.tv. However, it’s not clear if any of those talks gained any real traction, Begley notes.

Around the time of the draft, J. Michael of The Indianapolis Star reported that no one on Indiana’s roster was truly untouchable, but suggested that the club had no plans to trade Turner. About a week later, ESPN’s Zach Lowe wrote that the Pacers rejected trade offers for the veteran center at the draft.

According to Begley, multiple teams that had conversations with the Pacers about Turner were left with the impression that it would take an “incredibly significant offer” to acquire him.

The Pacers appear to have a mini-logjam at the five, with first-round pick Goga Bitadze joining Turner and rising young center Domantas Sabonis on the depth chart. However, the club is committed to playing Turner and Sabonis alongside one another going forward.

It would be in Indiana’s best interest if the two young big men can co-exist and thrive on the court together. Turner is entering the first year of a four-year contract with a total base value of $72MM. Sabonis, meanwhile, is eligible for a rookie scale extension this offseason, so he’ll get much more expensive beginning in 2020/21.

If the duo produces mixed results this season and the Pacers look like a more dangerous team with one or the other on the floor, it could force the front office to make some tough decisions related to Sabonis’ potential restricted free agency and long-term future. For now though, it seems safe to say that neither player – especially Turner – is going anywhere.

David McClure Hired By Memphis

July 28th, 2019 at 2:31pm CST by clarkcrum

The Grizzlies have hired Pacers player development coach David McClure as an assistant for new head coach Taylor Jenkins’ staff in Memphis, reports J. Michael of The Indianapolis Star. McClure also spent two seasons in San Antonio before joining the Pacers back in 2015.

Justin Holiday Excited To Play With Baby Brother

July 21st, 2019 at 3:58pm CST by clarkcrum

Pacers’ new addition Justin Holiday is excited about the prospect of playing with his baby brother, reserve point guard Aaron Holiday, reports Scott Agness of The Athletic. “It was the best situation I had at this time,” Justin said. “(T)he Pacers obviously being a contender every year and going to the playoffs, and then also them having my brother was something that was very, very enticing for me. To be able to be a part of that culture and play with my brother, I think it made it pretty simple where I needed to go.”

Arena Funding; Partial Guarantee For Brimah

July 18th, 2019 at 7:57pm CST by clarkcrum

According to The Associated Press, city officials in Indianapolis are signing off on a deal nearing $300MM in public subsidies in order to fund the renovation of the Pacers’ downtown arena, Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

Council members reportedly voted in favor of the deal unanimously, with the Pacers promising to stay at Bankers Life for 25 more years in consideration of the public money. The project includes building a year-round outdoor plaza next to the arena and interior updates.

Per Scott Agness of The Athletic (Twitter link), the Pacers’ reported one-year deal with center Amida Brimah has a partial guarantee. Agness refers to Brimah as a “potential two-way guy,” which suggests that his guarantee doesn’t exceed $50K.

Pacers To Sign Amida Brimah

July 18th, 2019 at 3:32pm CST by Luke Adams

The Pacers have reached an agreement to sign free agent center Amida Brimah, according to Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports (via Twitter).

Agent Daniel Hazan tells Haynes that Brimah will sign a one-year deal with Indiana. It’s not clear if it will be an Exhibit 10 contract, but that seems probable, since I doubt Brimah will get a significant guarantee.

Brimah, 25, went undrafted out of UConn in 2017 and has signed a pair of contracts with the Spurs since then. Those training-camp deals were designated to secure the big man’s G League rights, and as a result, he has appeared in 95 games for the Austin Spurs over the last two seasons.

In 47 games last year, Brimah averaged 8.8 PPG, 8.2 RPG, and 2.9 BPG in 23.3 minutes per contest for San Antonio’s NBAGL affiliate. He also earned G League All-Defensive honors for a second consecutive season.

More recently, Brimah appeared in six Summer League games for the Nets in Las Vegas earlier this month, showing off his rim-protecting abilities by averaging 2.2 BPG in just 12.5 minutes per game.

Nets Sign David Nwaba

July 17th, 2019 at 12:12pm CST by Arthur Hill

JULY 17: The Nets have officially signed Nwaba, the team confirmed today in a press release.

JULY 14: David Nwaba has agreed to a two-year contract with the Nets, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic. The deal includes a team option for the second season, according to Michael Scotto of The Athletic, who adds that the Pacers, Kings, Rockets and Suns all had interest in Nwaba (Twitter link).

It’ll be a minimum-salary deal for Nwaba, who will make approximately $1.7MM for the upcoming season and $1.8MM in 2020/21 with a July 7 deadline for the option decision, tweets Bobby Marks of ESPN. The Nets now have 15 players with guaranteed contracts.

Brooklyn will be the fourth stop in four years for the 26-year-old shooting guard, who spent his first three seasons with the Lakers, Bulls and Cavaliers. He appeared in 51 games for Cleveland this year, averaging 6.5 points in about 19 minutes per night.

The Cavs opted last month not to tender a $1.9MM qualifying offer to Nwaba, making him an unrestricted free agent. Even so, Cleveland had expressed some interest in bringing him back.

The addition of Nwaba continues an impressive summer for Brooklyn, which hit the free agent jackpot by signing Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and DeAndre Jordan.

And-Ones: Pacers, Favors, Zhou, Teodosic

July 16th, 2019 at 10:39pm CST by ChrisCrouse

The Pacers were thrilled to see Goga Bitadze still available when the team picked at No. 18, J. Michael of the Indianapolis Star relays. The scribe hears that many within the league were surprised Bitadze was still available at that spot. However, several executives told Michael that had they been running the Pacers, they wouldn’t have taken the center unless they planned on trading either Myles Turner or Domantas Sabonis.

Most of the executives Michael spoke to believe that if the team decides to trade either Turner and Sabonis, the latter will be the one to go. Turner is entering the first season of a four-year, $80MM contract, while Sabonis is entering the last year of his rookie deal.

Here’s more from around the league:

The Pelicans were Derrick Favors‘ preferred destination once it was clear the Jazz were moving him, Tony Jones of The Athletic tweets. Utah needed to trade Favors in order to accommodate the Bojan Bogdanovic signing.
Former Rockets center Zhou Qi plans to play in Europe next season, Emiliano Carchia of Sportando relays. Zhou has not yet picked a team.
Milos Teodosic will make slightly over €5MM during his three-year contract with Virtus Bologna, Carchia passes along in a separate piece. Teodosic last played for the Clippers during this past season.

Pacers Sign Goga Bitadze To Rookie Contract

July 15th, 2019 at 11:47am CST by Luke Adams

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.

Pacers Guarantee Alize Johnson’s Contract

July 14th, 2019 at 1:50pm CST by clarkcrum

The Pacers have guaranteed the contract of forward Alize Johnson for the 2019/20 season, reports J. Michael of The Indianapolis Star. As Michael notes, Johnson’s deal was set to fully guarantee tomorrow, so Indiana will simply refrain from waiving the second-year Missouri State product.

Johnson, 23, saw limited playing time for the Pacers as a rookie, appearing in just 14 games and averaging 4.6 minutes per contest. He was a mainstay for the Pacers’ G League affiliate, the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, however, averaging 19.1 PPG and a team-leading 13.7 RPG in 31 games (all starts).

He continued his promising play this summer, finishing second on the team’s summer league roster in scoring behind point guard Aaron Holiday and leading the team in rebounding at 9.6 boards per contest.

Johnson figures to see limited minutes next season behind Domantas Sabonis and T.J. Leaf, but could see his playing time increase in situations where head coach Nate McMillan opts for smaller lineups, as Sabonis and fellow big man Myles Turner would likely split time in those scenarios