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Pacers Notes: Mathurin, McDermott, Hield, Smith

March 7th, 2024 at 6:11pm CST by Tristan Tucker

Pacers second-year guard Bennedict Mathurin is set to miss at least the next three games, and probably a fourth, as he deals with a sprained right shoulder, according to IndyStar’s Dustin Dopirak.

Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said Mathurin will be reevaluated after Indiana’s upcoming two-game road trip that concludes March 12 in Oklahoma City. That reevaluation will come before the Pacers play the second half of a back-to-back against the Bulls on March 13, so it’s unlikely he plays in that game, according to Dopirak.

“We hope it’s not serious,” Carlisle said. “He’s a guy who bounces back very quickly and hates missing game. We hope that it’s relatively short term, but he will miss a week at least.”

Mathurin is averaging 14.5 points per game in his second year in the league.

We have more notes on the Pacers:

There’s still no return timetable for Doug McDermott, who is dealing with a right calf strain. According to Dopirak, as of Saturday, McDermott hadn’t engaged in any on-floor work since suffering his injury on Feb. 26. He’s averaging 5.7 points and shooting 41.5% from three this season.
Buddy Hield recently opened up about his trade from the Pacers, explaining how he didn’t see a future with the organization. “I love Buddy. I wish we could have kept him. The whole organization wishes they could have kept him,” Carlisle said in response to Hield’s comments (Twitter links via Dopirak). “And we could have, but it would have been self-serving for the organization. … He’s one of a kind. I loved him. I loved working with him for two years. He was a total pro with everything with he did.”
Jalen Smith is knocking down a career-high 61.2% of his field goals and 44.3% of his three-point attempts. According to Smith, the key to his better shooting is to stop thinking about knocking them down, Dopirak writes in another story. “I guess it’s just an ‘F-it’ mentality,” Smith said. “I’m pretty much saying if it goes in, it goes in. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t.” Smith is playing just 17.7 minutes per night in a crowded frontcourt, but has been highly efficient in his limited time and is averaging 20.9 points and 11.3 rebounds per 36 minutes.

Sixers Notes: Hield, Covington, Melton, Payne, Martin

March 6th, 2024 at 6:22pm CST by Arthur Hill

Buddy Hield wasn’t surprised by the deal that sent him from the Pacers to the Sixers at last month’s trade deadline, writes Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports. Philadelphia was in the market for shooters, also pursuing ex-Pistons marksman Bojan Bogdanovic, who wound up in New York, sources tell Fischer. Even though he hasn’t been on the court yet with Joel Embiid, who suffered a meniscus injury in late January, Hield is glad to be with the Sixers and believes they can become an effective combination.

“You want to go to a team that wants you. You don’t want to go to a team where you’re a piece and it’s like, ‘We’re gonna try this out,’” Hield said. “Other teams are trapping Embiid, so having a three-point shooter to keep guys honest, I know the reason why I was traded here.”

Hield is averaging 15.5 points per game since joining the Sixers while shooting 44% from the field and 42.2% from beyond the arc. He’s also landed a consistent role in the starting lineup, something that didn’t happen in Indiana as coach Rick Carlisle experimented with different backcourt starters alongside Tyrese Haliburton. Hield said he enjoyed the Pacers’ up-tempo approach, but he didn’t believe he had a future with the team after extension talks failed to produce a new contract.

“If a team doesn’t want to re-sign you, we asked them early and you know how it is. It’s the game,” Hield said. “They say they want to sign you and then after it doesn’t happen, the conversations don’t really keep going on the phone, and it’s like talking to a wall, and nobody’s responding back. But after that, you’re under contract, and you have to, like, honor your contract. So it’s one of those deals where you just gotta come in every day and be professional. But I know that the whole vibe was so different.”

There’s more from Philadelphia:

The Sixers say Robert Covington will be reevaluated in about a week for a bone bruise to his left knee and could resume on-court activities in seven-to-10 days, tweets Gina Mizell of The Philadelphia Inquirer. De’Anthony Melton, who is battling a lumbar spine injury, has started an “offloading” program and will be reevaluated in approximately two weeks.
Cameron Payne said he was at about 70% because of the flu Tuesday night, but he opted to play because Tyrese Maxey is in concussion protocol, per Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. “I was like, ‘I’m 30 years old. Get out there and play, sick or not,’” Payne said. “‘Just get out there and help your team.’”
KJ Martin has been effective in his new role as a small-ball big man, observes Kyle Neubeck of PHLY Sports. Martin was seeing an uptick in his playing time before missing three games with an injury last week.

Contract Details For Kendall Brown

March 6th, 2024 at 6:54am CST by Luke Adams

The three-year contract that Kendall Brown signed with the Pacers features a starting salary of $1.1MM, which came out of the team’s room exception. This season is the first year that the room exception can be used to sign players for up to three years instead of just two, and Indiana took advantage of that flexibility to give Brown non-guaranteed minimum salaries in 2024/25 and ’25/26, with a team option on that final year. He’ll receive a partial guarantee of $250K if he makes the Pacers’ regular season roster in the fall.
The two-way deals recently signed by Jeff Dowtin (Sixers), Jacob Gilyard (Nets), Jacob Toppin (Knicks), Ish Wainright (Suns), Quenton Jackson (Pacers), Harry Giles (Lakers), and Dylan Windler (Hawks) are all one-year (rest-of-season) contracts, so those players will be eligible to become restricted free agents this summer.

Brown Grateful For Contract "Reward"

March 5th, 2024 at 7:15pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Kendall Brown‘s rookie season with the Pacers was cut short by shin surgery. Brown, a second-round pick, has shown enough this season in the G League to get his two-way deal promoted on Monday to a three-year standard contract. “It’s been a long two years,” Brown said, per Dustin Dopirak of the Indianapolis Star. “… The reward feels so much better when the path has been hard. My path has been different than a lot of other players in my class. I was just staying the course, just staying focused. Good things don’t come easy a lot of times. This is a good feeling to finally get that done.”

Spurs Notes: Wembanyama, McDermott, Branham, Barlow, Gray

March 5th, 2024 at 4:02pm CST by Luke Adams

ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne declared during an NBA Today segment on Monday (Twitter video link) that Spurs phenom Victor Wembanyama is “ready to win” and questioned how patient the Rookie of the Year frontrunner will be as the front office looks to build out the roster around him.

However, Mike Finger of The San Antonio Express-News (Twitter link) pushed back against the idea that Wembanyama will be urging the team to accelerate the roster-building process.

“I say this without an ounce of exaggeration or hyperbole: I talk to people about the Spurs every day. And of all those people, there is one who is, by far, the most forward-thinking and relentlessly patient when it comes to the plan,” Finger wrote. “It’s the 20-year-old kid. And it’s not close.”

Armed with plenty of cap flexibility and an excess of draft picks this offseason, the Spurs will be well positioned to continue adding talent to their young core, but there’s no indication that the club will be looking to consolidate several of its assets in a win-now move quite yet.

Here’s more on the Spurs:

Ahead of the Spurs’s game against the Pacers on Sunday, Zach Collins admitted that he was sad to see former teammate Doug McDermott go at last month’s trade deadline, though he appreciated that McDermott landed in a favorable situation. “I talked to him the day it happened and just told him I was going to miss him and that it was really fun playing with him,” Collins said, per Tom Orsborn of The San Antonio Express-News (subscription required). “But I am happy for him that he got to go (to a playoff contender). In the playoffs you need shooting, and he is going to be really valuable for them.” McDermott was unable to suit up against his old team on Sunday due to a calf injury.
A full-time starter for the Spurs in November and December, Malaki Branham had been coming off the bench since January 2. However, he earned a rare start on Sunday and took full advantage by scoring 18 points and handing out six assists, much to the delight of his teammates, Orsborn writes (subscription required). “I don’t have words to say how excited I am for him,” Keldon Johnson said. “I’m happy for him and the way he stepped up tonight. We really needed it and it was big.”
After having been promoted to the Spurs’ standard roster from his two-way contract, Dominick Barlow earned praise from head coach Gregg Popovich for having improved “pretty dramatically” since joining the team, according to Orsborn. “He is someone who plays in a solid manner,” Popovich said. “You don’t see him making mistakes really. He is not really a shooter. He is a pretty good defender and he goes to the boards pretty well, runs well. So, all those kind of basic things he puts together and plays a game that kind of complements everybody else.”
RaiQuan Gray‘s new two-way contract with the Spurs will cover two years, running through next season, Hoops Rumors has confirmed.

Pacers, Quenton Jackson Complete Two-Way Deal

March 4th, 2024 at 4:52pm CST by Rory Maher

4:52pm: Jackson’s two-way deal with the Pacers is now official, per NBA.com’s transaction log.

2:05pm: Free agent guard Quenton Jackson is signing a two-way deal with the Pacers, agents Adie Von Gontard and Gino Littles tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).

Jackson, 25, went undrafted out of Texas A&M in 2022. He signed a two-way deal with the Wizards last February, playing in nine NBA games as a rookie and averaging 6.2 points and 1.7 assists in 15.0 minutes per contest.

Washington released Jackson last summer, making him an unrestricted free agent. He wound up signing an Exhibit 10 deal with Chicago and has been playing for the G League’s Windy City Bulls during the 2023/24 campaign.

In 38 Showcase Cup and regular season games with Windy City this season, the 6’5″ point guard has averaged 16.0 points, 5.8 assists, 4.0 rebounds and 1.8 steals in 32.3 minutes, posting a .478/.221/.768 shooting line.

Indiana had an open two-way spot after promoting Kendall Brown to a three-year standard contract, so no additional transactions are needed to sign Jackson.

Pacers Promote Kendall Brown On Three-Year Contract

March 4th, 2024 at 9:50am CST by Dana Gauruder

MARCH 4: The signing is official, the Pacers announced in a press release.

MARCH 3: The Pacers are converting swingman Kendall Brown‘s two-way contract into a three-year standard deal, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski tweets. The club will use a portion of its room exception to complete the deal.

Indiana had an open roster spot, so it doesn’t have to make a corresponding move. Naturally, the Pacers will now have a two-way slot available. The deadline to sign players to two-way contracts is Monday.

Brown, the 48th overall pick in the 2022 draft, has played sparingly in six NBA appearances this season. He also played six games as a rookie.

The 6’7” Brown has spent most of the season in the NBA G League with the Indiana Mad Ants. He’s averaging 16.6 points, 4.8 rebounds and 2.6 assists in 33.6 minutes per game through 33 games, combining the G League’s Showcase Cup and regular season schedules.

In the short run, Brown will add depth to the wing positions. Doug McDermott is currently out due to a calf injury and the Pacers dealt Buddy Hield at the trade deadline.

Brown re-signed with Indiana on a two-way deal in July.

Pacers Notes: Sheppard, McDermott, Nesmith, Walker, Haliburton, Siakam

March 2nd, 2024 at 7:19pm CST by Arthur Hill

An illness forced Ben Sheppard to remain in New Orleans after missing Friday’s game, and the Pacers aren’t sure if he’ll be ready for Sunday’s contest in San Antonio, according to Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star. Sheppard will also stay in New Orleans tonight, and the team won’t decide his availability for the matchup with the Spurs until Sunday morning.

“If he feels better in the morning, he may join us here,” coach Rick Carlisle said. “If not, he’ll meet us in Dallas (for a game Tuesday).”

The Pacers have already announced that they’ll be without Doug McDermott, who will miss his third straight game with a strained right calf. The game marks a homecoming for McDermott, who was acquired from San Antonio at the trade deadline.

“It’s going to be a few more games,” Carlisle said of McDermott’s status. “He’s not doing any activity other than rehab.”

There’s more on the Pacers:

Aaron Nesmith was able to return to the court Friday night after sitting out the previous four games with a sprained right ankle, Dopirak adds. The team’s starting small forward said he’s “never felt that sensation before” when he injured the ankle on February 14, but tests showed the damage wasn’t as serious as he feared it might be. “I put a lot of work in the last couple of weeks so wind-wise, I felt pretty good,” Nesmith said after posting nine points and three rebounds in 20 minutes. “I didn’t feel out of shape or out of breath. It took a second to get warmed up and catch up to the game and let the game come to me.”
A depleted bench and a lopsided loss provided extended playing time for rookie forward Jarace Walker, Dopirak adds in a separate story. The lottery pick logged nearly 27 minutes, and Dopirak notes that it’s the first time since January 21 that he has played more than seven minutes in an NBA game. “He’s got much more solid defensively,” Carlisle said. “In his last stint with the G League team, we asked him to concentrate more on rebounding. He did that. He had double figure rebounds in at least a couple of those games. I like his feel and his vision in playmaking, and there were a couple of times he got to the rim tonight and that’s another thing we’ve been talking to him about. He did many good things and he was ready.”
Earlier this week, Tyrese Haliburton talked about building chemistry with Pascal Siakam, who was acquired from Toronto in a mid-January trade (YouTube link).

Devin Booker Expected To Play For Team USA In Olympics

February 28th, 2024 at 9:00pm CST by Rory Maher

After previously reporting that Jrue Holiday, Kevin Durant, LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Joel Embiid and Jayson Tatum are considered locks to be part of Team USA’s roster for the 2024 Olympics in Paris, at least as long as they remain healthy and interested, Shams Charania and Joe Vardon of The Athletic have added a seventh player to that list: Suns star Devin Booker.

Booker, Holiday, Durant and Tatum were on the roster when the Americans won the gold medal in Tokyo in 2021.

USA Basketball isn’t expected to make a formal announcement about the roster until late April or early May, according to Charania and Vardon. Embiid is currently recovering from surgery to repair a torn meniscus, but sources tell The Athletic he remains committed to playing.

Four other players are considered “strong candidates” to join Team USA’s roster this summer as well, sources tell Charania and Vardon. That group features Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards, Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton, Heat center Bam Adebayo and Lakers center Anthony Davis. During All-Star weekend, both Haliburton and Davis said they’d play if they were invited.

Adebayo was another member of the roster that won gold a few years ago.

If all four players make the cut, 11 spots on the 12-man roster would be filled, though a lot can happen between now and the beginning of July, when Team USA will hold its training camp before the Olympics open later that month.

Nesmith (Shin) Increases Practice Activity

February 24th, 2024 at 2:26pm CST by Rory Maher

Fourth-year forward Aaron Nesmith, who is having a career-best season for the Pacers, was sidelined for Thursday’s win over Detroit due to an ankle injury and is considered day-to-day. Head coach Rick Carlisle said the 24-year-old was able to increase his activity a bit during Saturday’s practice, tweets Tony East of SI.com. The Pacers’ next game is Sunday against the red-hot Mavericks, winners of seven straight.