- With their roster virtually set for the upcoming season, the Pacers are facing three option decisions that should be easy, per Tony East of Sports Illustrated. Indiana has until October 31 to pick up the third-year options for Ben Sheppard and Jarace Walker, along with the fourth-year option for Bennedict Mathurin. All three players appear to be part of the team’s future, so there’s no reason to part with any of them. The options would pay Sheppard $2.8MM, Walker $6.6MM and Mathurin $9.1MM for the 2025/26 season.
- The Pacers announced in a press release that they have added Dr. Jaimie Rubin as Director of Sport Psychology and Team Wellness.
- T.J. McConnell‘s four-year extension with the Pacers includes a partial guarantee in the third year of the contract and a team option in the final season, according to Bobby Marks of ESPN (Twitter link). The four-year, $44.8MM extension breaks down like this — $10.2MM in 2025/26; $11MM in 2026/27; $11.8MM ($5MM partial guarantee) in 2027/28; and a $11.8MM team option in 2028/29.
SEPTEMBER 3: The Pacers have officially announced McConnell’s extension, confirming the deal in a press release.
“It is safe to say that every team in the NBA would like a player that possesses the same intensity, competitive spirit, and passion for the game and his teammates as T.J. McConnell,” Pacers president of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard said in a statement. “T.J. has become a steadying veteran presence for our team both on and off the court, and his value to our franchise cannot be overstated. He was an integral part of our success last year and we’re happy that he will continue to be a part of what we’re building here.”
AUGUST 30: The Pacers and veteran guard T.J. McConnell have reached an agreement on a four-year contract extension worth $45MM, agents Mark Bartelstein and Andy Shiffman tell Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
The deal will begin in 2025/26 following the expiration of McConnell’s current contract, which will pay him $9.3MM this season. In total, he’ll be owed $54MM for the next five years, taking him through the ’28/29 season.
McConnell, who has been with the Pacers since 2019 after spending the first four years of his NBA career in Philadelphia, began last season out of Indiana’s crowded rotation. However, it didn’t take long for him to reestablish himself as one of the team’s top reserves.
The 32-year-old ended up appearing in 71 games, averaging 10.2 points, 5.5 assists, and 2.7 rebounds in 18.2 minutes per game. He posted a .556/.409/.790 shooting line and earned Sixth Man of the Year votes, then played a key role off the bench in the postseason, putting up 11.8 PPG, 5.1 APG, and 3.1 RPG in 17 games (20.5 MPG).
With Tyrese Haliburton and Andrew Nembhard cemented as building blocks in the Pacers’ backcourt, it was unclear how aggressively the team would pursue an extension with McConnell as he nears his mid-30s and the cost of the roster continues to rise. However, today’s news signals that the front office remains as confident as ever in his ability to be a positive contributor for many years to come.
When we discussed McConnell’s extension candidacy in our recent Offseason Check-In story on the Pacers, we identified Mike Conley‘s recent two-year, $20.75MM deal as a potential point of comparison for the Indiana guard. Now locked up for $54MM over five years, McConnell will earn an annual salary slightly above Conley’s for a significantly longer term.
While McConnell is four-and-a-half years younger than Conley, it’s still a little surprising to see the Pacers make such a lengthy commitment to a bench player at this stage of his career. We’ll have to wait for the full details, but it wouldn’t be surprising if some of McConnell’s salary on the back end of the deal is non-guaranteed.
McConnell is the fourth Pacer to sign a long-term contract worth at least eight figures annually this summer. Pascal Siakam and Obi Toppin received lucrative four-year deals a free agents, while Nembhard inked a three-year extension that ensures he’ll be under contract for the next four seasons.
With McConnell locked up, just one of the top eight players from Indiana’s postseason rotation is entering a contract year — starting center Myles Turner will become extension-eligible in January.
T.J. McConnell‘s agreed-upon four-year, $45MM extension, which doesn’t kick in until the 2025/26, could impact the Pacers’ upcoming decisions regarding Myles Turner and Bennedict Mathurin, according to Dustin Dopirak of the Indianapolis Star.
The McConnell and Andrew Nembhard (three-year, $58.6MM) extensions will put the Pacers closer to the luxury tax threshold and the prohibitive tax aprons going forward. Turner would become an unrestricted free agent without an extension before July 2025, while Mathurin will be eligible for a rookie scale extension at that time.
We have more from the Eastern Conference:
- The Nets could dictate next summer’s free agency and trade markets, Brian Lewis of the New York Post notes. They could open up as much as $70MM in cap space, plus they could control as many as four first-round picks in a loaded draft. The Nets also have the league’s second-biggest trade exception at $23.3MM.
- Mavericks former majority owner Mark Cuban apologized to Jalen Brunson for a perceived jab at the Knicks guard over Brunson’s 2022 free agency, Peter Botte of the New York Post relays. The exchange between Cuban and Brunson occurred during The Roommates podcast (video link). Cuban said in April 2023 that negotiations to retain Brunson “went south, when (father Rick Brunson) took over, or the parents took over.” Brunson signed with the Knicks shortly after they hired his father as an assistant coach. “The only thing that I … didn’t like about the whole situation was when Mark said, ‘When the parents got involved, that’s when things got messy,’” Brunson said. “So that was the one thing that I was like, I kind of was like, ‘Damn that was a little jab.’” Cuban offered the following reply: “I apologize, if it put you in a certain way, that wasn’t the intention. But it was hard to deal with. It was a unique negotiation in a lot of different ways.”
- The Cavaliers will hold their first week of training camp at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., according to a team press release. Cleveland will become the first NBA team to hold training camp at IMG Academy. It will also be the Cavaliers’ first remote training camp since preparing for the 2004/05 season at Capital University in Columbus, OH.
The Celtics seem well-positioned to repeat as NBA champions in 2024/25.
After posting a league-best 64-18 regular season record, Boston blitzed the competition in the playoffs, going 16-3 en route to the franchise’s record 18th championship.
The reigning champs have retained all of their top rotation pieces, extending Jayson Tatum, Derrick White, and Sam Hauser this summer. In fact, 12 of Boston’s top 13 players from its 2023/24 vintage are back on this year’s roster. The only exception? Free agent forward Oshae Brissett has yet to sign anywhere, but has alluded to a possible Celtics return.
With a focus on vanquishing Boston, several other Eastern Conference contenders retooled significantly during the offseason.
The Sixers are of course the headliners of the offseason, having almost completely reconfigured their roster around incumbent All-Stars Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey. Although Paul George was the big addition on a four-year, $211.6MM deal, Philadelphia president Daryl Morey also made some savvy role player signings, including forward Caleb Martin. But both Embiid and George have had some uniquely underwhelming postseason performances in recent years, and both are on the wrong side of 30 with growing injury histories. Can they keep it together in the playoffs when it matters most?
Last year’s No. 2 seed, the Knicks, saw their playoff run hampered by escalating injuries to much of their rotation. Although New York lost starting center Isaiah Hartenstein to the Thunder in free agency, the team made its own splash with a blockbuster trade for former All-Defensive swingman Mikal Bridges, acquiring him from the Nets.
Despite frequent trade rumors, the biggest offseason change for Cavaliers happened on their bench. Cleveland president Koby Altman jettisoned now-former head coach J.B. Bickerstaff after two consecutive playoff seasons as a top-four seed, replacing him with former Warriors assistant Kenny Atkinson. The team is hoping for internal development from its four stars and more cohesion out of its other pieces.
As the No. 3 seed heading into the playoffs, the Bucks may have been upset by an Eastern Conference Finals-bound Pacers squad in the first round. But Milwaukee has a key asset Indiana does not: All-NBA power forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, still very much in his prime. After trading to acquire All-Star point guard Damian Lillard late in the 2023 offseason, Milwaukee struggled to build out its depth around a pricey top six and underwent a mid-season coaching change. This year, however, the Bucks added several ring-chasing veterans on below-market deals. Will it be enough to get them deep into the playoffs again?
Indiana, to its credit, played the hand it was dealt, riding some injury luck to its first East Finals appearance in a decade. After an underwhelming Olympics run, wherein he did not play in Team USA’s gold medal game, could All-NBA point guard Tyrese Haliburton be due for a leap? Could newly re-signed forward Pascal Siakam develop more chemistry with the team’s longer-tenured stars after his first full offseason in Indiana?
We want to know what you think. Can anyone among the aforementioned crop best Boston and emerge out of the East? Will a spoiler with present talent and the assets to make a trade — perhaps the Magic or Heat — make a surprise run? Weigh in with your thoughts in the comments section below.
The Pacers have requested waivers on guard Dakota Mathias, the team announced in a press release.
The move was anticipated. Mathias was signed to an Exhibit 10 contract a few days ago, and the Pacers specified that he was expected to play with the Mad Ants, their G League affiliate, during the 2024/25 season.
The Exhibit 10 language Mathias’ contract means he’ll receive a bonus worth up to $77.5K on top of his standard NBAGL salary as long as he spends at least 60 days with the Mad Ants once the season begins.
Mathias played four years of college ball in Indiana at Purdue prior to going undrafted in 2018. He has appeared in 14 regular season games with Philadelphia and Memphis, last playing for the Grizzlies during the 2021/22 campaign. He holds career averages of 3.9 points in 9.9 minutes per contest.
In addition to his time in the NBA and NBAGL, the 29-year-old combo guard has also played professionally in Europe, spending time in Spain and Germany.
The Pacers now have 19 players under contract, two shy of the offseason limit. They have 16 players on standard deals, but only 12 of those contracts are fully guaranteed. All three of their two-way slots are filled.
As of Wednesday, eight of the NBA’s 30 teams are carrying at least 15 players on guaranteed contracts and are unlikely to have many additional offseason acquisitions in store. Another 17 teams are carrying either 13 or 14 players on guaranteed deals.
As our roster counts page shows, that leaves five clubs carrying 12 or fewer players on fully guaranteed deals. That doesn’t necessarily mean all five of those teams will sign free agents to guaranteed contracts before the regular season begins, but it’s worth checking in on them to take a closer look at their roster situations.
[RELATED: 2024/25 Non-Guaranteed Contracts By Team]
Cleveland Cavaliers
No NBA team has fewer players on fully guaranteed salaries than the Cavaliers, who are carrying just 10 of them. However, we can probably pencil in two more players for their standard regular season roster — Craig Porter played rotation minutes last season and has a $1MM partial guarantee, while Sam Merrill proved to be a bargain on his non-guaranteed minimum-salary deal.
If we assume those 12 players will be on the Cavs’ opening night roster, that leaves three openings. Cleveland reportedly plans to leave one open, and one may be earmarked for restricted free agent Isaac Okoro, but even if Okoro returns, the club will still need to add one more player to its roster as a 14th man. It will be interesting to see if the Cavs target a specific free agent and offer him a guaranteed contract or if they’ll bring multiple non-guaranteed players to camp to compete for that 14th spot.
Golden State Warriors
The Warriors have 12 players on fully guaranteed salaries, with Lindy Waters and Gui Santos also in the mix on non-guaranteed salaries. Golden State doesn’t currently have the flexibility to sign a veteran free agent as a 15th man due to the team’s close proximity to its hard cap of $178.1MM, but either Waters or Santos could be waived to make room for a replacement.
The Warriors gave up a second-round pick in June to acquire Waters, so I doubt the plan is to waive him. Santos’ future is less certain. He barely played in the NBA last season as a rookie, and his G League numbers (including a .437 FG% and 3.1 turnovers per game) weren’t exceptional. If the Dubs want to bring in another player to fill out their regular season roster (they’re reportedly working out Bruno Caboclo this week), Santos looks like the best bet to be the odd man out.
Indiana Pacers
Although the Pacers have just 12 players on fully guaranteed contracts, they have at least four players in the mix for the final three spots on their roster, including two with partial guarantees (James Johnson and James Wiseman) and two on non-guaranteed deals (Kendall Brown and Cole Swider).
I expect Johnson and Wiseman to have the upper hand for spots on the 15-man roster, with Brown and Swider potentially fighting for the 15th spot — assuming Indiana even carries a full 15-man squad to open the regular season.
For what it’s worth, the Pacers have shown a willingness in the past to move Johnson on and off their roster. Last season, he signed four separate contracts with the club, including two 10-day deals. But the fact that Indiana gave him a $750K guarantee on his newest contract is an indication the team doesn’t plan on cutting the veteran forward before opening night.
Philadelphia 76ers
While the Sixers technically only have 12 players on guaranteed salaries for the time being, that number will increase to 13 once Guerschon Yabusele officially signs with the team. He’s likely still working out the logistics of the move, including his buyout with Real Madrid and clearance from FIBA.
Once Yabusele has signed, Philadelphia will have 13 players on guaranteed contracts, plus Ricky Council on a non-guaranteed deal. I can’t imagine Council is going anywhere after his promising rookie season, so the only question for the Sixers will be whether or not they want to carry a 15th man to open the year. They’re well into tax territory already, so they may hold that spot open unless there’s a specific player they like and don’t want to get away.
Sacramento Kings
The Kings currently have 14 players on standard contracts — 12 on guaranteed deals, plus Orlando Robinson with a partial guarantee ($500K) and Keon Ellis on a non-guaranteed salary.
Ellis was a rotation player for much of last season and should be a lock for the regular season roster. On the surface, Robinson may not look like a sure thing, but the Kings’ cap situation works in his favor. The club is currently only below the tax line by about $1MM, so eating Robinson’s $500K partial guarantee in order to replace him with a newcomer before the season starts wouldn’t be the most financially prudent move.
I’d expect the Kings to keep their 15th roster spot open to start the season. If they carry someone in that spot, it might be another player on a non-guaranteed deal for the sake of flexibility.
The Pacers have waived Kyle Mangas and Cameron McGriff, the team announced in a press release. Indiana has also signed Dakota Mathias to an Exhibit 10 contract.
Both Mangas and McGriff were signed to Exhibit 10 contracts, and both finished last season with the Mad Ants, the Pacers’ NBA G League affiliate. Now that they’ve been released, Mangas and McGriff will receive bonuses worth up to $77.5K on top of their standard NBAGL salaries as long as they spend at least 60 days with the Mad Ants once the 2024/25 season begins.
Mathias played four years of college ball in Indiana at Purdue prior to going undrafted in 2018. He has appeared in 14 regular season games with Philadelphia and Memphis, last playing for the Grizzlies during the 2021/22 campaign. He has averaged 3.9 points in 9.9 minutes per contest during his brief NBA career.
A 6’4″ guard, Mathias is an excellent outside shooter, having converted more than 40% of his three-point tries in both college and the G League. In addition to his time in the NBA and NBAGL, the 29-year-old has also played professionally in Spain. He spent part of last season in Germany with Ratiopharm Ulm.
As with Mangas and McGriff, the Pacers’ announcement specifies that Mathias’ Exhibit 10 deal was designed for him to join the Mad Ants for the upcoming season. That means he will be waived at some point before the ’24/25 campaign begins.
Hoops Rumors is checking in on the 2024 offseason for all 30 NBA teams, recapping the summer’s free agent signings, trades, draft picks, departures, and more. We’ll take a look at each team’s offseason moves and consider what might still be coming before the regular season begins. Today, we’re focusing on the Indiana Pacers.
Free agent signings
Pascal Siakam: Four years, maximum salary ($188,950,272). Re-signed using Bird rights.- Obi Toppin: Four years, $58,000,000. Includes $2MM in unlikely incentives. Re-signed using Bird rights.
- James Wiseman: Two years, minimum salary ($4,784,366). First year partially guaranteed ($500,000). Second-year team option. Signed using minimum salary exception.
- James Johnson: One year, minimum salary. Partially guaranteed ($750,000). Re-signed using minimum salary exception.
- Cole Swider: One year, minimum salary. Non-guaranteed. Signed using minimum salary exception.
- Kyle Mangas: One year, minimum salary. Non-guaranteed (Exhibit 10). Signed using minimum salary exception.
- Cameron McGriff: One year, minimum salary. Non-guaranteed (Exhibit 10). Signed using minimum salary exception.
Trades
- Acquired the draft rights to Johnny Furphy (No. 35 pick) from the Spurs in exchange for the draft rights to Juan Nunez (No. 36 pick) and cash.
Draft picks
- 2-35: Johnny Furphy
- Signed to four-year, $8,589,485 contract. First three years fully guaranteed. Fourth-year team option.
- 2-49: Tristen Newton
- Signed to two-way contract.
- 2-50: Enrique Freeman
- Signed to two-way contract.
Two-way signings
Departed/unsigned free agents
- Doug McDermott (unsigned)
- Jalen Smith (Bulls)
- Oscar Tshiebwe (Jazz)
- Isaiah Wong (unsigned)
Other moves
- Signed Andrew Nembhard to a three-year, $58,650,480 veteran extension that begins in 2025/26. The first year of the extension replaces Nembhard’s $2,187,699 team option for ’25/26.
Salary cap situation
- Operating over the cap ($140.6MM) and below the luxury tax line ($170.8MM).
- Carrying approximately $170.4MM in salary.
- Hard-capped at $188,931,000.
- Full mid-level, bi-annual exceptions available.
The offseason so far
The Pacers finished with a solid but not spectacular 47-35 record last season and would have had to go through the play-in tournament to secure a playoff berth if not for a favorable tiebreaker that gave them the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference. Heading into the 2024/25 season, there are at least five teams (Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Milwaukee, and Cleveland) widely believed to be ahead of Indiana in the East, and maybe one or two more, depending on how you feel about the Magic and Heat.
Still, this club is coming off an appearance in the Eastern Conference Finals, even without All-Star guard Tyrese Haliburton operating at full health. Of course, Haliburton was still able to suit up and play for most of the postseason, which is more than can be said for a few notable opposing players during the first two rounds, including Giannis Antetokounmpo and Julius Randle. But the Pacers beat the teams in front of them in each of those two rounds and showed themselves to be a growing threat in the East.
The Pacers operated this offseason as if they’re confident last season’s results weren’t a mirage, investing heavily to bring back starting power forward Pascal Siakam (four years, maximum salary) and key reserve Obi Toppin (four years, $58MM, plus incentives).
As a result, Indiana’s team salary is hovering right around the luxury tax line, a threshold the small-market franchise rarely crosses. Barring another mid-season splash similar to last year’s Siakam acquisition, the Pacers should be able to remain out of the tax for at least this season, but with a couple rotation players due for raises next season, that may not be the case for much longer, assuming the club wants to continue pushing toward title contention.
Outside of their significant long-term investments in Siakam and Toppin, the Pacers’ front office mostly shopped in the bargain bin this summer. That included taking a flier on former No. 2 overall pick James Wiseman, who signed a partially guaranteed minimum-salary contract covering the next two seasons. With Jalen Smith departing in free agency, Isaiah Jackson will likely get the first shot to be Myles Turner‘s primary backup at the five, but Wiseman should have the opportunity to show he deserves minutes in that role.
The Pacers didn’t have a first-round pick in 2024 as a result of last season’s Siakam trade, but they had three second-rounders in the 35-50 range. Two of those players, Tristen Newton and Enrique Freeman, will start their professional careers on two-way deals, while No. 35 pick Johnny Furphy has a spot on the 15-man roster.
A projected first-round pick who slipped to day two, Furphy is one of just two second-rounders in this year’s class to receive three fully guaranteed years on his first NBA contract, signaling that the Pacers are high on him. Indiana has a good recent track record of finding gems near the end of the first round (Ben Sheppard) or the start of the second round (Andrew Nembhard) — we’ll see if Furphy can join that group.
Speaking of Nembhard, he signed a new three-year extension that replaces his minimum-salary team option for 2025/26 and tacks on two new years beyond that. The $58.7MM the Pacers gave him is the most they could have offered on a veteran extension for those three years.
The 24-year-old has emerged as a reliable rotation piece and played some of the best basketball of his career in the Eastern Finals with Haliburton sidelined. Still, it was a little surprising to see the terms of his new deal, as it would’ve made more sense for the Pacers to begin Nembhard’s extension after his ’25/26 team option in order to keep him on that bargain contract for one additional season.
On the other hand, it’s possible Nembhard wouldn’t have agreed to that structure, and while Indiana could have waited a year to sign him to the same extension, the team likely didn’t want to risk making the mistake Dallas did with Jalen Brunson. The Pacers guard may not have Brunson’s upside, but if Haliburton misses extended time at any point in the next season or two, Nembhard could thrive in a larger role and significantly increase his value. Locking him up sooner rather than later allows the Pacers to avoid a scenario in which his price tag soars by 2026.
Up next
After extending Nembhard, the Pacers will have to weigh whether or not to reward another important part of their backcourt rotation with a new deal — T.J. McConnell is extension-eligible as he enters a contract year.
McConnell will turn 33 during the upcoming season and may not be part of the long-term plan in Indiana, but he has posted very strong numbers (9.4 PPG, 5.4 APG, .550/.427/.823 shooting) in a reserve role over the past two seasons. He began last season out of the rotation, but ultimately proved so invaluable off the bench that he ended up earning Sixth Man of the Year votes in the spring.
I expect Indiana to make a strong effort to lock up McConnell for another year or two beyond 2024/25 as long as the price is in the neighborhood of his current $9.3MM salary. Mike Conley‘s two-year, $20.75MM contract with Minnesota could serve as a useful point of comparison in negotiations — Conley is a starter for the Wolves, but he’s also nearly five years older than McConnell.
The Pacers’ top two centers – Turner and Jackson – are also entering contract years, but Turner, who signed his last contract midway through the 2022/23 season, won’t be extension-eligible this season, so Indiana can’t get anything done with him before he reaches unrestricted free agency.
Jackson is extension-eligible until October 21 and may be in line for an increased role in his fourth year, but he averaged a career-low 13.1 MPG last season. I’d be surprised if the cap-conscious Pacers aggressively pursue a long-term deal for him this fall.
Indiana will have some questions at the back of their roster to answer before the regular season begins. The team is currently carrying just 12 players on fully guaranteed salaries, with Wiseman and James Johnson on partially guaranteed deals and Kendall Brown and Cole Swider on non-guaranteed contracts.
Those partial guarantees probably give Wiseman and Johnson the inside track for spots on the roster. The Pacers certainly aren’t obligated to carry a full 15-man squad entering opening night, but if they do, Brown may have to hold off camp invitee Swider for the final spot.
Diamond Sports Group – the parent company of the Bally Sports regional networks – announced on Friday that it has reached an agreement with the NBA to continue local broadcasts for 13 teams for the 2024/25 season, according to Evan Drellich and Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic.
Diamond’s agreements, including a deal with the NHL to continue broadcasting nine teams’ games, will need to be approved by a federal bankruptcy judge. That hearing is scheduled for September 3, per Drellich and Vorkunov. While the new deals will only cover the 2024/25 season for now, they could extend beyond that if Diamond gets out of bankruptcy.
Diamond won’t be moving forward on deals with the Pelicans or the Mavericks, according to Friday’s announcement. The Pelicans news was reported earlier this month, with the team making plans to broadcasting its games for free over the air through Gray TV.
The Mavericks’ broadcast plans for the coming season remain unclear. However, The Athletic characterized the split with Dallas as mutual, and an NBA spokesperson told The Dallas Morning News that the Mavs “declined to continue distributing their games” through Diamond/Bally Sports, so it sounds like the club has a new plan in the works.
The 13 teams whose games will continue to air on Diamond’s regional sports networks in 2024/25 are the Hawks, Hornets, Cavaliers, Pistons, Pacers, Clippers, Grizzlies, Heat, Bucks, Timberwolves, Thunder, Magic, and Spurs.
Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- Saturday’s farewell game in honor of Goran Dragic‘s retirement – dubbed “The Night of the Dragon,” will stream on the NBA App at 2:00 pm Eastern time, the league announced today (Twitter link). Luka Doncic and Nikola Jokic will team up as part of “Team Luka,” while Dragic’s roster features former MVP Steve Nash. Eurohoops published the full rosters on Twitter.
- Speaking to reporters ahead of Dragic’s farewell game, Dirk Nowitzki suggested that he would like to continue working in basketball in some capacity, but he doesn’t plan on becoming a full-time coach for any team. “I don’t think I see coaching in my future,” Nowitzki said, per Cesare Milanti of Eurohoops. “Things could change very quickly, but I don’t see myself as a team coach. I see more myself as an individual coach.”
- Former Bucks assistant Josh Oppenheimer has accepted a job on Porter Moser‘s coaching staff at Oklahoma, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link). Milwaukee parted ways with Oppenheimer – who had a “close working relationship” with Giannis Antetokounmpo, according to Wojnarowski – back in May as Doc Rivers made changes to his staff ahead of his first full season with the Bucks.