Indiana Pacers Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Pacers Sign Adonis Thomas For Camp

September 5th, 2014 at 10:24am CST by Alex Lee

SEPTEMBER 5TH: The Pacers have followed up with a formal announcement, so the deal is official.

SEPTEMBER 3RD: The signing has taken place, according to the RealGM transactions log, though the team has yet to make a formal announcement.

AUGUST 22ND, 8:32am: It’s indeed a non-guaranteed deal, a source tells Shams Charania of RealGM (Twitter link).

AUGUST 21ST, 9:32pm: Adonis Thomas will attend training camp with the Pacers this fall, the Memphis product tweeted on Thursday night. Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders was the first reporter to pass along the news (via Twitter). We haven’t heard anything official from the team yet, though it appears that the sides have come to an agreement based on Thomas’ tweet.

After going undrafted last June, Thomas spent most of the 2013/14 season in the D-League with the now-defunct Springfield Armor. The 6-foot-7 guard averaged 16.6 points and 4.3 rebounds in 34 games for Springfield, shooting an unconscious 46.6 percent from beyond the arc. His D-League play earned him two 10-day contracts with the Magic and one with the Sixers, with whom he closed out the regular season.

In all Thomas appeared in only six NBA games as a rookie, averaging 2.3 points in 6.2 minutes per game. The 21-year-old spent two years at Memphis, where he played 27.5 minutes per game for the Tigers and was the second leading scorer on a team that earned a six seed in the 2013 NCAA Tournament.

Pacers Sign Chris Singleton For Camp

September 5th, 2014 at 10:22am CST by Chuck Myron

FRIDAY, 10:22am: The signing is official, the team announced.

MONDAY, 2:00pm: It’s a summer contract, tweets Shams Charania of RealGM, so that means it’s a completely non-guaranteed camp deal.

11:02am: The Pacers have reached an agreement to sign Chris Singleton, reports David Pick of Eurobasket.com (Twitter link). Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports wrote several weeks ago of Indiana’s apparent interest in the 24-year-old combo forward, more recently following up with a dispatch indicating that Singleton would be working out in front of NBA team officials. The terms aren’t immediately clear, and while the Pacers have a $5.305MM disabled player exception from Paul George‘s injury to hand out, they can only spend about $2MM without going over the tax line, which they’ve long maintained they won’t do.

Spears identified the Heat as another team eyeing Singleton last month when he reported Indiana’s interest, though it seemed as though Miami had moved on to other targets. The 18th overall pick from 2011 fell out of favor rather quickly in Washington, and the Wizards declined their fourth-year option on him before last season, setting him up for unrestricted free agency this summer. It appeared about a month ago that Washington abandoned its pursuit of re-signing Singleton, though he had turned down an offer from overseas to continue his search for an NBA job. He also changed agents, going from Bill Duffy of BDA Sports to Todd Ramasar of Stealth Sports, as J. Michael of CSNWashington reported last month.

Indiana has been fairly active on the market in seeking a replacement for George, reportedly coming to terms on camp deals with small forwards C.J. Fair and Adonis Thomas, though Singleton appears to be the team’s most significant addition toward that end. The Pacers had been carrying 17 players, though only 13 are on fully guaranteed deals, so it appears Singleton has a decent shot to make the opening-night roster.

Pacers Sign Arinze Onuaku For Camp

September 5th, 2014 at 10:20am CST by Eddie Scarito

FRIDAY, 10:20am: The Pacers have confirmed the signing with a formal announcement.

THURSDAY, 1:01pm: It’s indeed a non-guaranteed deal, tweets Shams Charania of RealGM.

WEDNESDAY, 11:10pm: Arinze Onuaku has signed with the Pacers according to the RealGM.com Transactions log. The length or terms of the deal are unclear, but it’s most likely a non-guaranteed camp deal. After their recent agreement with Chris Singleton, the Pacers had been carrying 18 players on their preseason roster, with 13 of those deals guaranteed.

The 6’9″, 27 year-old appeared in a total of five games last season, split between the Pelicans and the Cavaliers. Onuaku averaged 0.6 PPG, 1.6 RPG, and 0.6 APG. His slash line was .200/.000/.500.

Onuaku will compete for a roster spot in what is currently a crowded Indiana frontcourt. Ahead of him on the depth chart are David West, Roy Hibbert, Luis Scola, Ian Mahinmi, and Lavoy Allen.

Pacers Sign C.J. Fair For Camp

September 5th, 2014 at 10:19am CST by Chuck Myron

SEPTEMBER 5TH: The deal is official, the team announced.

SEPTEMBER 3RD: The signing has taken place, as the RealGM transactions log shows, though the Pacers still haven’t announced the move.

AUGUST 25TH: The Pacers and C.J. Fair have agreed to a non-guaranteed deal that will bring him to camp, reports Shams Charania of RealGM (Twitter link). The news is right on the heels of a report from Mike Waters of The Post-Standard that Fair was set to work out for the team next month, so apparently Indiana is willing to make a camp commitment to the undrafted forward even without the audition. It’s almost certainly a minimum-salary arrangement, though that’s not entirely clear just yet.

That Fair agreed to a non-guaranteed arrangement is surprising, since it appeared as though he was holding out for guaranteed money when he reportedly turned down camp invitations from the Mavs and other NBA teams earlier this summer. He played for the Mavs’ summer league team, making it curious that he didn’t wind up joining Dallas instead of Indiana for camp, though the Mavs have 14 fully guaranteed deals while Indiana is carrying only 13.

He was a fringe second-round prospect heading into the draft who displayed streaky shooting over the final two seasons of his four-year career at Syracuse, as I noted earlier. He’s a combo forward who would perhaps help make up for the loss of injured starting small forward Paul George.

And-Ones: ‘Melo, Pelicans, Rockets, Dragic

September 4th, 2014 at 12:44pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Bulls brought up the idea of a two-year deal for Carmelo Anthony that would allow him to cash in on projected growth in the league’s maximum salaries, but the Knicks star said today that it didn’t appeal to him, as Chris Herring of The Wall Street Journal observes (Twitter link). Anthony, who re-signed with the Knicks on a five-year deal, cast his experience as a free agent this summer as stressful, explaining that he doesn’t want to go through it again, Herring tweets. Thanks to the raises he’s earned on his high-dollar contracts through the years, his salary for this season already exceeds the NBA’s maximum, so absent a truly dramatic increase to the max in the next few years, Anthony wouldn’t have stood to benefit from hitting free agency again in the near future. There’s more on Anthony amid the latest from around the league:

Anthony cited his New York-based business interests, his family, and the presence of Phil Jackson as reasons he chose to re-sign with the Knicks, Herring also notes (Twitter link).
Austin Rivers was in trade rumors earlier this summer as the Pelicans sought to make room to acquire Omer Asik, and while they listened to pitches from other teams, their continued faith in the former No. 10 overall pick led them to hang on to him, according to John Reid of The Times Picayune.
The pending Jason Terry trade will give the Rockets a weapon to use in a subsequent deal, should they choose, since they were otherwise short on mid-tier salaries to assist with salary matching, as Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle details.
The NBA buyout clause in Zoran Dragic‘s contract with Spain Unicaja Malaga isn’t prohibitive, and it would allow the shooting guard to come stateside for this season, tweets Marc Stein of ESPN.com. Previous reports have identified the Rockets and, more recently, the Pacers as suitors for Dragic, who apparently “badly wants” to play in the NBA.
Lorenzo Brown‘s deal with Reyer Venezia of Italy is on shaky ground, as Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia hears. Brown appeared in 26 games this past season for the Sixers, and it seems there’s a chance he’ll go back on the free agent market in advance of NBA training camps.

And-Ones: Witte, Young, Dragic

August 31st, 2014 at 5:29pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Sixers director of player personnel, Courtney Witte, is leaving to take a scouting position with the Clippers, Dei Lynam of CSNPhilly.com reports. According to Lynam’s source, Witte had been told by the Sixers that his contract wasn’t going to be renewed, and that the search for Witte’s replacement has been “ongoing for some time.”

Here’s more from around the league:

The league has trended towards smaller lineups the last few seasons, but John Zitzler of Basketball Insiders takes a look at five centers that are on the rise. Zitzler believes bigger things are in store for DeMarcus Cousins, Andre Drummond, Jonas Valanciunas, DeAndre Jordan, and Nikola Vucevic.
In an interview with Michael Rand of the Star Tribune, Thaddeus Young was asked how the rebuilding process differs between the Wolves and the Sixers. Young said, “I think the situation in Philly is much different. It’s the same process, but this team is much more competitive and it’s a better roster. Philly, they were getting rid of everybody and getting worse. But I think [Philadelphia GM Sam Hinkie] is doing a great job and has made some big moves.”
Zoran Dragic has re-negotiated his contract with Unicaja Malaga, reports La Opinion de Malaga (Translation by Emiliano Carchia of Sportando). Dragic’s contract has a buyout clause that he can exercise next June if he decides to leave for the NBA, Carchia notes. The Pacers are reportedly among the teams eyeing Dragic.

And-Ones: Wiggins, Dragic, Ingles

August 30th, 2014 at 10:33pm CST by Cray Allred

While a dark cloud hung over the Wolves franchise from the moment Kevin Love made it known he was prepared to move on, Jon Krawczynski of The Associated Press reports that the team’s fan base has been energized by the package Minnesota received in the Love trade. The Wolves just set a team record for most season-ticket packages sold in a week, after netting Andrew Wiggins, Anthony Bennett, and Thaddeus Young in the franchise-altering move. Here’s more from Minnesota and the rest of the league:

Wiggins tells Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune that he is happy to have been traded to the Wolves, where he will be thrust into a much bigger role than he would have carved out with the superstar-heavy Cavs.“I wanted to go to a place where I’m pushed to do a lot and become a special piece for the team. It’ll help me reach my potential,” said Wiggins. “I said I wanted to play for a team that wanted me, and now I’m here and I feel nothing but love.”
The Pacers are one of the teams interested in Zoran Dragic, reports Orazio Cauchi of Sportando. The younger brother of Goran Dragic is under contract in Spain. It is unclear if the guard is poised to exercise any sort of escape clause that would allow him to come stateside, although he’s reportedly eager to someday play in the Association.
Joe Ingles is generating interest from multiple NBA teams, tweets David Pick of Eurobasket.com. Pick says the Australian wing, who spent last season with Maccabi Tel Aviv, will need to perform well at the FIBA World Cup to get a shot.

Poll: Which 2013/14 Trade Will Have Greatest Impact?

August 30th, 2014 at 8:51pm CST by Cray Allred

When you look through last season’s trades, you’ll quickly notice that many of the deals revolved around players on the last years of their contracts, second-round draft picks, and other low-impact assets. A good amount of the players traded last year have already moved on from the team that acquired them, and many of the moving pieces failed to significantly help or hinder the fate of the teams involved for 2013/14.

Still, any given trade’s legacy can drag on for many years and in unexpected ways, as Eddie Scarito’s Hoops Rumors Trade Retrospective series has shown. I’ve gathered some of last year’s trades with loose ends and/or ramifications that have already stretched beyond last season.

Kings and Raptors swap Rudy Gay, Greivis Vasquez, Patrick Patterson, and other pieces. While Quincy Acy, Aaron Gray, and John Salmons are no longer a part of either franchise, Gay, Vasquez, and Patterson are all on the same rosters through at least 2014/15. Toronto became a playoff team after this trade, and Gay played some of the best basketball of his career as a King. Each franchise hopes to have cemented part of its future core with this deal.
Cavaliers and Bulls swap Luol Deng, Andrew Bynum, and picks. Deng is now a member of the Heat, and Bynum is an unsigned free agent. The Bulls are still owed Sacramento’s first-round pick, which is top-10 protected through 2017, along with a handful of others from this deal. Chicago also avoided the tax by waiving Bynum’s partially guaranteed contract, and this deal marked the beginning of a strategy to chisel out enough cap flexibility acquire a marquee talent this summer. The team aimed for Carmelo Anthony, but ultimately signed Pau Gasol.
Sixers and Pacers swap Danny Granger, Evan Turner, and more. The Sixers still own the Warriors second-round pick for 2015, and Indiana re-signed Lavoy Allen after receiving him in this trade. The bigger names in Granger and Turner have both landed in Miami and Boston, respectively. The Sixers bought out Granger after the deal, and the remaining hole at shooting guard plays into Philadelphia’s plans to remain less than competitive for the coming season. Granger was no longer a high-impact player for the Pacers at the time of the deal, although the team struggled mightily after his departure and is now without Paul George and Lance Stephenson for 2014/15, offensive talents that made Granger expendable at the time.

A team’s track record of draft success and player development, combined with the deal’s timeliness, all factor into our expectations. Which trade do you expect to look back on as more than a wrinkle in the NBA landscape?

Central Rumors: Rose, Cavs, Crawford

August 30th, 2014 at 4:59pm CST by Charlie Adams

Derrick Rose looked solid in Team USA’s dominating 114-55 victory over Finland today in the opening round of the 2014 FIBA World Cup. The 2010/11 MVP made just three of the eight shots he took, but he scored 12 points and dished out three assists over 22 minutes on the floor. The Bulls are surely crossing their fingers as they watch Rose in tournament play, praying the stud point guard can make it to the regular season injury free. Here’s the latest from the Central:

The Cavs have been considering signing a point guard before the start training camp, writes Terry Pluto of the Plain Dealer. However, Pluto hears that Cleveland doesn’t see adding another guard as a major need and that they won’t bring aboard another backcourt player if they can reach a deal with Ray Allen.
Former Indiana State big man Josh Crawford will work out for the Pacers next week, reports Enea Trapani of Sportando (via Twitter). Crawford, who has never suited up for an NBA club, currently plays in Bulgaria.
John Zitzler of Basketball Insiders has a look at the development of young centers from around the league and concludes that Andre Drummond is due for a monster year with the Pistons, while Larry Sanders will need to work hard to restore his image with the Bucks.

Western Notes: Walker, Brown, Trade Demands

August 29th, 2014 at 10:32pm CST by Cray Allred

The West will surely be ultra-competitive again next year, and there could be some shuffling in the top tier. The Rockets have had an underwhelming offseason, while the Thunder and Spurs have had relatively uneventful summers. Meanwhile the Mavericks and Clippers have retooled in the hopes of forming championship contenders. Here’s a look around the conference:

Henry Walker, formerly known as Bill Walker, is considering a camp offer from the Grizzlies, reports David Pick of Eurobasket.com (all Twitter links). Walker, who has played internationally since spending the 2011/12 season with the Knicks, is also receiving interest from the Kings, Pacers, and Heat.
Bobby Brown‘s contract with his Chinese team is valued at over $1MM, tweets Pick. There is still no report on how much the NBA buyout clause is for Brown, who most recently worked out for the Lakers, but one at or below the $600K teams can pay outside of the cap would fall in line with that salary.
In a subscriber-only piece, Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel wonders which star player could be next to force a trade from their current team, now that Kevin Love‘s situation has been resolved. He pegs Kevin Durant, Anthony Davis, and DeMarcus Cousins as some of the more notable hypothetical candidates.