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Pacers Sign Kyle O’Quinn

July 9th, 2018 at 11:49am CST by Luke Adams

JULY 9: The Pacers have published a tweet welcoming O’Quinn to the team, signaling that the signing is now official.

JULY 6: The Pacers have reached a contract agreement with free agent center Kyle O’Quinn, according to Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports, who reports (via Twitter) that O’Quinn will sign a one-year, $4.5MM deal with Indiana.

O’Quinn, 28, enjoyed the most productive season of his career in 2017/18, establishing new career highs in PPG (7.1), RPG (6.1), FG% (.582), and several other categories in 77 games (18.0 MPG) for the Knicks. Coming off a successful year in New York, O’Quinn was one of the few veterans in the NBA who turned down a player option for 2018/19.

That player option was worth approximately $4.26MM, so O’Quinn appears poised to exceed that salary on his new deal with the Pacers. Based on the reported terms, it appears that Indiana will use its room exception, worth $4.449MM, to finalize its deal with the veteran center after using up the rest of its cap space.

The Pacers have been busy this week, striking a three-year, $22MM deal with sharpshooting forward Doug McDermott early in free agency, then agreeing to terms on a one-year, $12MM pact for Tyreke Evans. Those two deals are expected to eat up just about all of Indiana’s cap space, but even after using their room exception on O’Quinn, the club will able to add minimum-salary players.

Before reaching an agreement with the Pacers, O’Quinn reportedly met with the Clippers and drew interest from the Sixers and Pelicans.

In Indiana, O’Quinn will join a talented and versatile frontcourt that features Myles Turner, Domantas Sabonis, Thaddeus Young, and T.J. Leaf. With Al Jefferson and Trevor Booker no longer in the mix, there should be a regular rotation role available for O’Quinn.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Contract Details For Tyreke Evans

July 8th, 2018 at 6:54pm CST by Luke Adams

The Pacers‘ deal with Tyreke Evans has a cap hit of $12.4MM, which includes $100K in likely incentives (Twitter link).

Pritchard Wants To Re-Sign Own Free Agents

July 8th, 2018 at 4:41pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The addition of swingman Glenn Robinson III filled the Pistons’ biggest need this offseason, according to Keith Langlois of Pistons.com. The Pistons didn’t anticipate an early commitment but a phone call from new coach Dwane Casey as the start of free agency helped to seal the deal with the ex-Pacers wing. Robinson received a two-year, $8.3MM contract. “We didn’t expect we would get Glenn that quickly,” senior advisor Ed Stefanski said. “We felt getting the two-year commitment was huge to us. To find a young wing who can make a shot, they’re hard to find in the league. When the opportunity came up that quickly, we felt we had to make a move. If it wasn’t for him, we would still be out there looking for a guy.”

Pacers GM Kevin Pritchard hopes to use a majority of next summer’s cap space on his own free agents, Mark Monteith of Pacers.com reports. Rotation players Thaddeus Young, Darren Collison, Cory Joseph, Bojan Bogdanovic, and Tyreke Evans could all be free agents next summer, which would free up as much as $57MM in cap space, Monteith notes. But Pritchard would prefer to use most of the money to re-sign some of those players, as he told Monteith. “We have the season like we want to have, our free agents will be the priority,” he said. “I think this team has a chance to grow this year. … We already know these guys. They become our priority in free agency.”

Evans Content With Coming Off Bench

July 6th, 2018 at 11:03pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Pacers offered a better contract to swingman Lance Stephenson than he received from the Lakers, Pacers president of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard said on Friday (Twitter link via Mark Monteith). Stephenson agreed to a one-year, $4.5MM deal from the Lakers. A phone call from LeBron James influenced Stephenson’s decision to choose L.A., Monteith adds. However, the Pacers declined Stephenson’s team option of $4.36MM prior to free agency, so it seems odd Pritchard then turned around and offered more in the open market.

Tyreke Evans is content with coming off the bench for the Pacers, Monteith writes for the team’s website. Evans joined the Pacers on a one-year, $12MM deal. Pritchard didn’t have to coax Evans into being a sixth man. “Not one bit,” he said. “We told him, ‘Here’s your role, does that interest you?’ He said, ‘Yes, I’m in.’ I think in his mind he’s going, ‘Boy, I’ve been scoring a lot of points and doing a lot of good stuff against starters, this is going to be fun.'”

Pacers Waive Alex Poythress

July 6th, 2018 at 3:58pm CST by Luke Adams

The Pacers have waived forward Alex Poythress, according to RealGM’s transactions log. Poythress’ $1.54MM salary for 2018/19 was fully non-guaranteed, so Indiana won’t be on the hook for any of it.

Poythress, 24, signed with the Pacers last December and appeared sparingly in 25 games for the club, logging just 104 total minutes. In 53 G League games for the Fort Wayne Mad Ants over the last two seasons, Poythress has averaged 18.7 PPG and 7.3 RPG with a .521 FG%.

Waiving Poythress was part of a series of roster moves completed by the Pacers that cleared the way for the team to sign Tyreke Evans and Doug McDermott. The club also renounced its rights to several free agents, including Trevor Booker and Joe Young.

Poythress will become an unrestricted free agent on Sunday if he clears waivers.

Tyreke Evans Signs One-Year Deal With Pacers

July 6th, 2018 at 12:28pm CST by Luke Adams

JULY 6: Evans’ deal with the Pacers is now official, the team announced in a press release. “With Tyreke, we thought we needed a secondary ball-handler to not only compliment Victor [Oladipo], but he can turn it downhill and make plays for others,” said president of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard.

Indiana also made its deal with McDermott official today.

JULY 3: The Pacers are in agreement on a one-year, $12MM deal with Tyreke Evans, according to Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports (via Twitter). ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski had reported (via Twitter) that Evans and the Pacers were closing in on a one-year deal.

Twitter user @SneakerReporter first broke word of a potential $12MM deal between the Pacers and Evans nearly 24 hours ago, though it’s not clear if an agreement was formally in place that early or if the two sides finalized it today. Evans traveled to meet with the Pacers today after having already met with the Thunder, Lakers, Warriors, and Hornets earlier in free agency, and Wojnarowski indicated this morning that Evans and the Pacers were still working toward a deal.

A former fourth overall pick and Rookie of the Year, Evans appeared in 52 games during an injury-shortened season for the Grizzlies. When healthy, he looked as good as he has at any time in his nine-year NBA career, averaging 19.4 PPG, 5.2 APG, and 5.1 RPG with a .452/.399/.785 shooting line.

The lottery-bound Grizzlies held onto Evans at the trade deadline rather than getting what they could for him, and at the time reports suggested that Memphis intended to push hard to re-sign the 28-year-old as a free agent, using their mid-level exception. However, there has been no indication that the Grizzlies made a strong effort to bring back Evans.

While other teams showed interest in Evans, none of them had the ability to make the sort of $12MM offer the Pacers did. Even after committing to Doug McDermott earlier in free agency, Indiana still had about $12-15MM in cap room to work with, and will devote most or all of that room to Evans. He’ll provide another play-maker in the backcourt for the Pacers, who lost Lance Stephenson to the Lakers.

According to Anthony Slater of The Athletic (Twitter link), Evans was the Warriors‘ initial target using their taxpayer’s mid-level exception ($5.337MM), but they were turned down by the guard, who was seeking more money and a larger role. He should get both in Indiana, though Golden State is probably happy with its fallback plan for that MLE.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Tyreke Evans Brings More Firepower To Pacers

July 3rd, 2018 at 10:49pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Pacers boosted their chances to be a top three team in the East by landing Tyreke Evans, writes Gregg Doyel of The Indianapolis Star. The addition of Evans, along with Doug McDermott and rookie Aaron Holiday, gives Indiana far more firepower off the bench than it had this season, Doyel contends. One of eight players to average 19 points, five rebounds and five assists during the season, Evans is versatile enough to help the Pacers in a variety of ways.

Tyreke Evans Meeting With Pacers

July 3rd, 2018 at 8:14am CST by Luke Adams

Free agent guard Tyreke Evans continues to meet with interested teams, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, who reports (via Twitter) that Evans has a meeting lined up with the Pacers today. While the two sides have mutual interest in completing a deal, there’s still work to do on it, Woj adds.

It’s the fifth reported free agent meeting for Evans, who also reportedly spoke to the Thunder, Lakers, Warriors, and Hornets. None of those teams currently have the cap room or exceptions to offer the 28-year-old the kind of money that Indiana could.

Having waived Al Jefferson on Monday, the Pacers should still have about $10-15MM in cap room even after committing a portion of their space to Doug McDermott early in free agency.

A former fourth overall pick and Rookie of the Year, Evans appeared in 52 games during an injury-shortened season for the Grizzlies. When healthy, the play-making guard looked as good as he has at any time in his nine-year NBA career, averaging 19.4 PPG, 5.2 APG, and 5.1 RPG with a .452/.399/.785 shooting line.

Pacers Waive Center Al Jefferson

July 2nd, 2018 at 4:17pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Pacers have waived veteran center Al Jefferson, Keith Smith of RealGM tweets.

Jefferson had a partial guarantee of $4MM on his $10MM salary for next season. Indiana gains $6MM in cap space by the move and could use the stretch provision to create even more room for thie summer.

Though the Pacers declined their $4.33MM option on Lance Stephenson‘s contract, they have added plenty of salary in recent days. They guaranteed Bojan Bogdanovic‘s $10.5MM salary and Darren Collison‘s $10MM deal.

Indiana also made a surprising three-year, $22MM free agent splurge for forward Doug McDermott and agreed to terms with first-round pick Aaron Holiday.

Jefferson, 33, has played for Indiana the past two seasons. He saw spot duty in 36 games last season as the No. 3 center, averaging 7.0 PPG and 4.0 RPG in 13.4 MPG.

Pacers Guarantee Darren Collison’s 2018/19 Salary

July 2nd, 2018 at 9:57am CST by Arthur Hill

JULY 2: The Pacers have guaranteed Collison’s $10MM salary for the 2018/19 season, a source tells Jordan Schultz of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). Indiana also guaranteed Bogdanovic’s ’18/19 salary last week.

JUNE 21: The Pacers are expected to bring back Darren Collison and guarantee his $10MM contract for next season, tweets Scott Agness of Vigilant Sports. Collison only has a $2MM partial guarantee for now, but will be in line for his full salary if Indiana doesn’t waive him before July 1.

“Everything is so fluid but at the end of the day, we said our top six, seven guys we wanted to have back. And then make additions,” said president of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard.

Collison turned in a steady performance during his first season in Indiana, appearing in 69 games and posting a 12.4/2.6/5.3 line. The nine-year veteran signed with the Pacers as a free agent last summer.

Indiana still has to address partially guaranteed contracts for Bojan Bogdanovic ($10.5MM) and Al Jefferson ($10MM). Bogdanovic has a $1.5MM guarantee, while Jefferson’s is $4MM. Alex Poythress ($1,544,951) and Ike Anigbogu ($690,000 guaranteed out of $1,378,242) have smaller non-guaranteed deals.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.