Indiana Pacers Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Pacers Sign, Waive Elfrid Payton, Jordan Bell

September 30th, 2023 at 3:00pm CST by Rory Maher

SEPTEMBER 30: The Pacers have waived both Payton and Jordan Bell, per a press release. Bell was also signed to an Exhibit 10 contract. Indiana now has 18 players on its roster.

SEPTEMBER 29: The Pacers have signed free agent point guard Elfrid Payton, the team announced in a press release.

While the terms of the deal were not disclosed, Scott Agness of Fieldhouse Files tweets that the deal was designed for Payton to return to the Mad Ants, Indiana’s NBA G League affiliate. That strongly suggests Payton received an Exhibit 10 contract, which would entitle him to a bonus worth up to $75K if he’s waived before the season starts and spends at least 60 days with the Mad Ants.

A former lottery pick (10th overall in 2014), Payton appeared in 500 regular season games over eight seasons with the Magic, Suns (twice), Pelicans and Knicks. His last NBA stint came back in 2021/22 with Phoenix, when he averaged a career-low 11.0 minutes over 50 games with the Suns.

Last season, Payton had a brief stint playing professionally in Puerto Rico before joining the Mad Ants to finish out the campaign. In 10 regular season games (20.5 minutes) with the Mad Ants, the 29-year-old averaged 7.9 points, 6.0 assists, 3.9 rebounds and 1.4 steals, with a subpar .424/.286/.333 shooting line.

Payton reportedly had workouts with the Hornets and Timberwolves this offseason, but was unable to find an NBA contract. Instead, he’ll reportedly be heading back to the Mad Ants to open ’23/24.

The Pacers now have 20 players under contract, including 15 on guaranteed standard deals and all three two-way slots filled.

Jrue Holiday Notes: Clippers, Sixers, Kings, Pacers, Knicks

September 30th, 2023 at 9:46am CST by Tristan Tucker

After being sent to the Trail Blazers as part of the Damian Lillard blockbuster, Jrue Holiday is likely the next guard to be traded by a Portland team seeking draft capital and/or players who fit the club’s timeline. The Blazers are expected to be active in the next few days in attempting to find a landing spot for the two-time All-Star and there’s a “good chance” he’s on the move by Monday, according to The Athletic’s Shams Charania.

The market for Holiday, a tenacious defender, is already robust. As we wrote on Thursday, the Clippers, Heat, Bulls, Celtics, Knicks, Pacers, and Sixers are among the teams that could explore acquiring him.

Sam Vecenie of The Athletic looks at several hypothetical landing spots for Holiday and considers what the trade package might look like in each scenario. In his view, the Clippers are the most viable destination for Holiday, with an easy-to-build package consisting of matching salaries, young players and draft picks. While the Clippers have been tied to Sixers guard James Harden for some time, Vecenie reasons that Holiday could be more appealing, since he’s extension-eligible while Harden is not, due to his two-year deal last offseason.

Of course, the rumors linking Harden and the Clippers make a three-team deal that sends Harden to L.A, Holiday to Philadelphia, and salaries, picks and other assets to Portland easy to imagine, Vecenie writes. However, Kyle Neubeck of PHLY Sports says that he’s hearing no real traction on any such move and that it will be difficult for Philadelphia to land Holiday.

The Heat, Knicks and Warriors are among other teams who can put together reasonable packages for Holiday, Vecenie writes, with Golden State providing his favorite potential landing spot for the guard.

We have more Jrue Holiday-related notes:

The Kings are one of the few teams who will not be in on the Holiday sweepstakes, tweets Sam Amick of The Athletic. According to Amick, the Kings “looked at” the possibility, but will not pursue the guard. While Holiday makes sense for just about every team in the league, it stands to reason that the Kings, who seem to have a set backcourt rotation, wouldn’t want to shake things up this close to the season.
Indiana is a dark horse candidate to trade for Holiday. IndyStar’s Dustin Dopirak explores the subject, weighing the pros and cons of the Pacers acquiring Holiday. While adding the former All-Star would give Indiana a secondary ball-handler and shooting, along with high-level defense, it might not be the best idea for the team to sacrifice draft capital and/or young players at this stage of its timeline. With Holiday potentially becoming a free agent next offseason, it’s also possible he would be a rental and, if not, he would be costly at 33 years old, Dopirak writes. Ultimately, Dopirak believes the Pacers shouldn’t get desperate to acquire Holiday, even if he would boost their playoff odds this season.
As noted above, New York makes some level of sense as a suitor for Holiday’s services. Fred Katz and Mike Vorkunov write about the topic, arguing that while Holiday would help in a major way on the court, the cost to acquire him would be great. Ian Begley of SNY writes that if the Knicks did acquire Holiday, they’d do so with the idea of extending him.

Suns Rumors: McConnell, Johnson, Ishbia, Ayton, Lowry

September 29th, 2023 at 4:00pm CST by Luke Adams

The Suns are believed to have maintained their interest in Pacers guard T.J. McConnell, Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports said in the latest episode of the No Cap Room podcast (YouTube link).

Phoenix’s interest in McConnell was reported by multiple outlets earlier in the summer, but at that time, the team had no clear path to acquiring him due to his $8.7MM cap hit. Following their trade of Deandre Ayton and Toumani Camara for four players, the Suns have more potential pathways to acquiring McConnell, with either Nassir Little ($6.25MM) or Grayson Allen ($8.93MM) as a logical salary-matching piece.

While Fischer points out that the Suns are extremely short on point guard depth, he admits he’s not sure if the team will be eager to sacrifice its wing depth by moving a player like Little or Allen. Allen, in particular, had been on Phoenix’s radar for a while, as Fischer noted on Wednesday.

Here’s more on the Suns:

During the same podcast, Fischer reiterated that Keon Johnson‘s days in Phoenix are likely numbered. “I don’t think they’ve officially waived Keon Johnson yet, but from my understanding, they plan to waive him,” Fischer said. The former first-round pick was sent from Portland to the Suns in Wednesday’s blockbuster deal.
Suns owner Mat Ishbia was “very involved” in the trade that landed Allen, Little, Johnson, and Jusuf Nurkic in Phoenix, according to Sam Amick of The Athletic. As Amick explains, the Suns view the move as one that not only adds depth but gives them players who better fit around their stars. Nurkic was a longtime target for the club, which is “thrilled” to have landed him, Amick adds.
While he’s not an All-Star like Damian Lillard and Jrue Holiday, Ayton is the only player in Wednesday’s blockbuster who is a former No. 1 overall pick, so his departure represents the end of an era, of sorts, in Phoenix. Doug Haller of The Athletic and Gerald Bourguet of GoPHNX.com take a look back at Ayton’s tenure with the franchise and, in Bourguet’s words, the “polarizing, complicated” legacy he’ll leave behind.
John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 has shot down a report claiming that the Suns had interest in acquiring Kyle Lowry from the Heat as part of a three-team trade if the Trail Blazers had decided to send Lillard to Miami. There’s “absolutely no truth” to that claim, according to Gambadoro (Twitter link), who says Phoenix was “totally focused” on Nurkic and the smaller pieces they could get with him.

Jrue Holiday Rumors: Heat, Pacers, Knicks, Celtics, More

September 28th, 2023 at 7:29pm CST by Rory Maher

The Lakers, Clippers, Heat, Celtics, Bulls and Sixers are among the teams Jrue Holiday would be interested in joining, a league source tells Anthony Chiang and Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald.

That said, unless the Trail Blazers are willing to hold onto Holiday for at least a few months, you can scratch the Lakers from the list of possible suitors. They obviously aren’t trading LeBron James for Holiday, and the other players they could theoretically use to match salaries aren’t trade-eligible until December or January.

The Blazers are expected to prioritize young players and draft assets in exchange for Holiday, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski said on NBA Today (YouTube link).

Holiday is expected to draw interest from a variety of teams, sources tell ESPN’s Zach Lowe (Insider link). The Heat could be among that group, but Portland “had no major interest in any individual Miami player or draft asset, and limited interest in whatever combination Miami might cobble” during negotiations for Damian Lillard, Lowe reports.

According to Chiang and Jackson, the Heat haven’t ruled out making an aggressive push for Holiday, but they didn’t do it immediately on Thursday. Miami isn’t expected to pursue James Harden, and has yet to express interest in Pacers sharpshooter Buddy Hield, who is reportedly on the trading block after failing to reach an extension, a source tells Chiang and Jackson. Free agent guard Goran Dragic is interested in returning to the Heat, but that interest doesn’t appear to be mutual, per The Herald’s duo.

Sources tell Lowe the Pacers and Knicks are expected to have a level of interest in Holiday, though it’s unclear how seriously they’ll pursue the defensive stalwart. While Lowe believes Holiday could be a good fit with both clubs, he wonders if Indiana will decide it’s too early to make a win-now move.

Boston was previously cited as a possible suitor, but multiple sources tell Brian Robb of MassLive that the Celtics will likely be outbid and aren’t expected to land Holiday. Still, the team has long been interested in the veteran guard — Boston tried to acquire Holiday a few years ago before he was traded to Milwaukee, a source tells Robb.

Here are a few more notes related to Holiday, who was sent to the Blazers from the Bucks as part of yesterday’s Lillard blockbuster:

Bucks star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo didn’t have a direct impact on the Lillard deal, Wojnarowski noted in the same segment. “Directly, (Antetokounmpo) literally played no role,” Wojnarowski said. “In fact, (GM) Jon Horst did not bring this trade idea or sign off on it to Giannis Antetokounmpo because Jrue Holiday was involved. And the relationship there and the reverence that this organization and these players have for Holiday. He did not want to put that to Giannis Antetokounmpo and have him have that on his conscience necessarily that he might sign off or not sign off on it.” However, as Wojnarowski observes, Antetokounmpo putting pressure on the organization by saying winning more championships was the most important thing in his career certainly played a significant indirect factor in Milwaukee trading for Lillard.
In addition to the previously mentioned teams that might pursue Holiday, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst (Insider link) believes the Pelicans, Kings and Warriors would also benefit from the All-Star guard’s services. Over at The Athletic, John Hollinger lists the Heat, Clippers and Celtics as logical destinations for Holiday.
Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star considers the pros and cons of the Pacers pursuing Holiday. As Dopirak writes, head coach Rick Carlisle heaped praise on the five-time All-Defensive member during the 2022/23 season. “I’d like to somebody to name five other basketball players that are better than Jrue Holiday at the entire game,” Carlisle said. “Guy’s an amazing player, both sides of the ball. His scoring tonight was at another level obviously, but defensively, he can guard anybody. Just a nod of respect to him. He’s a guy that too often is overlooked as a truly, truly great player.” Still, Dopirak thinks it’s probably too early for Indiana to go after a 33-year-old veteran like Holiday, who can be a free agent in 2024 if he declines his player option.

Pacers Waive Pedro Bradshaw, Craig Sword; Sign Jordan Bell

September 28th, 2023 at 4:53pm CST by Rory Maher

The Pacers have waived Pedro Bradshaw and Craig Sword and signed Jordan Bell, the team announced in a press release.

All three players received Exhibit 10 deals, which means they’ll each be eligible for a bonus worth up to $75K if they spend at least 60 days with the Indiana Mad Ants, the Pacers’ NBA G League affiliate. Based on previous reporting, Bell will almost certainly be waived in the coming days as well.

A 6’8″ big man, Bell has by far the most NBA experience of the group, appearing in 161 regular season games with the Warriors, Wolves, Grizzlies, Wizards and Bulls from 2017-22. He holds career averages of 3.7 PPG and 3.1 RPG in 12.0 MPG. The 28-year-old played in China last season but spent most of 2021/22 with the Mad Ants.

Bradshaw, who went undrafted out of Bellarmine in 2021, averaged 9.2 PPG and 5.8 RPG in 29 regular season games (19.2 MPG) with the Mad Ants in ’22/23. He posted a .509/.419/.776 shooting line.

Sword was a member of the Capital City Go-Go last season who had his rights acquired earlier this month by the Mad Ants. An NBAGL veteran who has appeared in more than 200 games at that level, the 29-year-old averaged 7.8 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 1.1 steals in 22.2 minutes per game last season in 43 appearances for the Go-Go, with a shooting line of .566/.387/.725.

The Pacers now have 19 players under contract, including 15 on guaranteed standard deals and all three two-way slots filled.

Pacers Not Rushing To Extend Toppin, Nesmith, McConnell

September 28th, 2023 at 2:31pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Pacers are in “no rush” regarding potential extensions for forwards Obi Toppin and Aaron Nesmith and guard T.J. McConnell, general manager Chad Buchanan told Dustin Dopirak of the Indianapolis Star and other media members.

Toppin was acquired during the summer from the Knicks to compete for the power forward spot. He’ll make $6.8MM this season and become a restricted free agent if he’s extended a qualifying offer after the season.

Nesmith started 60 of 73 games for the Pacers last season and appears set to be a regular rotation player again following the offseason trade of fellow wing Chris Duarte. Nesmith is in a similar spot as Toppin regarding his contract status. He’ll make $5.6MM this season and head into restricted free agency next season if a QO is offered.

“We’ll have conversations with their agents,” Buchanan said. “Obi is someone that we haven’t seen on our team yet. We’d like to see how things play out there. Aaron obviously has had one year with us and did a good job for us. It’s got to be the right situation for both sides. We’ll have those conversations but there’s no rush or anything to do something with those two guys in the short term.”

As for McConnell, the 31-year-old backup point man will make $8.7MM this season. His $9.3MM salary for next season is partially guaranteed for $5MM. His rotation spot is also in flux and Dopirak suggests the team may eventually look to trade him rather than extend him.

“T.J. is another guy who wants to play and he deserves to play,” Buchanan said. “He’s going to come in to compete. T.J. has had to compete for everything in his life. How that’s going to look, we don’t know yet, but I think he wants to be a Pacer. He’s happy being a Pacer. He wants to be here and that’s something we need to see play out and see where it goes.”

Backup Center Spot Up For Grabs

September 28th, 2023 at 12:15pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Even though general manager Chad Buchanan has downplayed reports that the Pacers are looking to trade Buddy Hield, giving second-year guard Bennedict Mathurin a starting job ahead of Hield could cause chemistry issues, Gregg Doyel of the Indianapolis Star opines. Hield is in the final year of his contract and extension talks have stalled, Buchanan admitted this week, though they could be rekindled.
The Pacers have multiple options at center behind Myles Turner. Buchanan indicated that Daniel Theis, Isaiah Jackson and Jalen Smith will battle in training camp for the backup role, according to Dustin Dopirak of the Indianapolis Star. Buchanan added he won’t look to trade any of those players until there’s more clarity regarding the rotation.

Pacers GM: Hield Extension Talks Stalled But No Trade Imminent

September 26th, 2023 at 5:02pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Pacers are in no rush to deal Buddy Hield, according to general manager Chad Buchanan, even though extension talks have stalled, Dustin Dopirak of the Indianapolis Star reports.

Hield has a base salary of $18.6MM with a cap hit of $19.3MM in the final year of his four-year contract. The news broke last week that the team was exploring trade possibilities after Hield was dissatisfied with Indiana’s extension offer. Buchanan believes extension talks will be rekindled at some point.

“Buddy is somebody that we love having on our team,” Buchanan said. “We want him on our team this year. The business of basketball comes into play at times. We’ve had talks with him about an extension. Those talks are at a halt, I’d say, right now, but that’s not to say that they’re done. We’d like to have Buddy with us.”

Buchanan also downplayed the notion that the team was shopping the sharpshooter wing.

“We have no intention of trying to move Buddy. But it’s also our job to listen if opportunities come to help us improve the team,” he said. “That’s what we have to do as a front office. Our intention is to have Buddy on the team this year and have him be a big part of our group.”

The GM also anticipates Hield will report to camp next week and won’t be distracted by the status of extension talks.

“I think Buddy is going to come in and be professional and be excited to be part of this team. He loves being part of this group,” Buchanan said. “He loves playing with coach Rick (Carlisle.) He and Tyrese (Haliburton) obviously have a connection together. He’s going to come in and play well and we’ll see what happens moving forward with him and the team.”

Hield will likely have to play a different role if he remains a Pacer. He was a starter for most of last season but the Pacers are intent on moving Bennedict Mathurin into the lineup. The Pacers also made a splashy free agent addition in Bruce Brown, who could cut into Hield’s minutes.

Pacers Sign Craig Sword, Pedro Bradshaw To Camp Deals

September 26th, 2023 at 3:08pm CST by Luke Adams

The Pacers have signed free agent guards Craig Sword and Pedro Bradshaw to training camp contracts, according to RealGM’s transaction log. The club now has 20 players under contract.

Tony East of SI.com (Twitter link) previously reported that Sword would be getting an Exhibit 10 contract from Indiana, while marketing agency RBA Showcase (Twitter link) confirmed Bradshaw’s signing.

In all likelihood, both Sword and Bradshaw will end up as returning rights players for the Indiana Mad Ants (formerly the Fort Wayne Mad Ants), the Pacers’ G League affiliate. Bradshaw played for the team last season, while Sword was a member of the Capital City Go-Go who had his rights acquired earlier this month by the Mad Ants.

An NBAGL veteran who has appeared in more than 200 games at that level, Sword averaged 7.8 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 1.1 steals in 22.2 minutes per game last season in 43 appearances for the Go-Go, with a solid shooting line of .566/.387/.725. Bradshaw was a role player for the Mad Ants, averaging 9.2 PPG and 6.0 RPG on .507/.423/.763 shooting in 45 appearances (20.0 MPG).

Both players will earn bonuses worth up to $75K if they’re waived by the Pacers before the regular season and then spend at least 60 days with the Mad Ants.

Pacers Notes: Hield, Mathurin, Backup Center, Nembhard, McConnell

September 25th, 2023 at 11:58am CST by Arthur Hill

The Pacers are in a difficult position trying to make a Buddy Hield trade so close to the start of the season, writes Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star. No progress has been reported since news broke last Wednesday that the team was working with Hield’s representatives to find a deal after the sides were unable to reach an agreement on a contract extension.

Dopirak believes Indiana is justified in asking a high price for Hield, who is one of the league’s top three-point shooters. However, teams are reluctant to shake up their rosters this far into the offseason, especially for a player who has an expiring contract.

It’s also not clear what the Pacers will be seeking in return for Hield. Dopirak notes that the team saw a need after last season to upgrade at power forward and find defensive-minded wings, but that has already been addressed during the offseason. He states that they’ll need three-point shooting help if they part with Hield and may be looking for a younger, less expensive player who can do what he does.

There’s more on the Pacers, all courtesy of Dopirak:

Bennedict Mathurin has a chance to win a starting job, but only if he can improve his defense. Dopirak observes that the first-team All-Rookie selection struggled with that part of the game, particularly when he got an opportunity to start late in the season. The Pacers are hoping to see progress from Mathurin in camp and will need him to take on a larger role if Hield gets traded.
Daniel Theis‘ impressive showing in the World Cup gives him a strong case to be the primary backup center heading into camp. Dopirak notes that he’ll be competing for minutes with Isaiah Jackson and Jalen Smith, who are both younger and more athletic than the 31-year-old Theis. He adds that Jackson is the team’s best lob finisher and second-best shot blocker behind Myles Turner, while Smith was Indiana’s leader last season in rebounds per 48 minutes.
The Pacers’ improved roster could lead to several other changes, Dopirak adds. If Mathurin and free agent addition Bruce Brown are both starters, Andrew Nembhard could move from shooting guard to backup point guard, which is his more natural position. That could lead to a reduction in playing time for T.J. McConnell, who posted the best scoring average of his career last season.