Indiana Pacers Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Central Notes: Turner, Sabonis, Lopez, Middleton, Allen

December 1st, 2022 at 2:28pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Pacers center Myles Turner is enjoying a career season now that he is fully entrenched at the five spot for Indiana, writes Law Murray of The Athletic.

The 12-9 Pacers have enjoyed a surprisingly solid start to 2022/23, and Turner has been a big part of that. The 6’11” big man out of Texas is averaging a career-high 17.1 PPG on a shooting line of .528/.377/.808. He is also pulling down a career-high 8.3 RPG, while chipping in 2.6 BPG and 1.5 APG.

“The past three or four seasons, I’ve been playing the four position,” Turner explained. Former frontcourt mate Domantas Sabonis manned the center role while Turner played mostly as a power forward. “I feel better naturally at the five. Things have just opened up for me. There’s more opportunity out there on the floor.”

There’s more out of the Central Division:

Sabonis, now with the Kings after a deadline deal last season, reflected on his new home and suggested that the trade sending him from the Pacers to Sacramento was a win-win, per Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star. “We’re doing great here,” Sabonis said of his 11-9 Sacramento squad. “I was traded here to turn things around and change the franchise. I feel like we’re on a great start, there’s a lot of season left. Tyrese [Haliburton] is playing amazing, he’s playing at an All-Star level. It looks like they’re having a lot of fun. Yeah, it worked out for both sides.”
Bucks center Brook Lopez is looking forward to the return of All-Star teammate Khris Middleton, according to Eric Nehm of The Athletic. Middleton is expected to make his 2022/23 season debut for Milwaukee Friday at home against the Lakers. The team without Middleton seems to have barely missed a step, and is currently the No. 2 seed in the East with a 15-5 record. “We’ve been playing the way we are, and we haven’t had an All-Star, All-NBA guy like that, just tops at his position,” Lopez reflected. “That’s scary. Obviously, we want Khris to take his time, make sure he’s healthy, get right and everything, but that’s an exciting prospect to think about.”
All-Star Cavaliers center Jarrett Allen continues to rehabilitate a low back contusion, per Kelsey Russo of The Athletic (Twitter link). “From what I understand he’s gotten better and then it’s just a matter of how quickly he can progress,” head coach J.B. Bickerstaff said of Allen’s health. “It’s been slow, obviously, it’s not where he wants it to be where he’d be able to play. He’s been doing things in the water and trying it out even on game days to see, and we just won’t put him out there when he’s not in position to protect himself.”

And-Ones: Henderson, Top Offseason Adds, 2022 Re-Draft

November 30th, 2022 at 11:19am CST by Luke Adams

G League Ignite guard Scoot Henderson, the consensus No. 2 prospect in the 2023 draft class, has been diagnosed with a nose fracture after entering the concussion protocols and missing the team’s last four games, writes Cody Taylor of Rookie Wire.

Although Henderson has already been sidelined since November 18, the injury isn’t considered a long-term one and he’s being listed as day-to-day for the time being. According to Taylor, there’s a chance Henderson will be cleared to return on Sunday when the Ignite host the South Bay Lakers.

Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

Within his latest NBA power rankings, Zach Harper of The Athletic also assigns grades for one key offseason addition made by each team. Harper hands out two grades of A-plus: One to the Nuggets for their acquisition of Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and one to the Kings for their hiring of head coach Mike Brown.
In his “way-too-early” re-draft of the 2022 lottery, Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer moves Pacers guard Bennedict Mathurin and Trail Blazers guard Shaedon Sharpe into the top five, with Hawks wing AJ Griffin and Jazz center Walker Kessler among the non-lottery picks moving into O’Connor’s top 14.
HoopsHype has updated its trade value rankings, listing its top 100 players and breaking them down position by position as well. Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo and Mavericks guard Luka Doncic lead the way as the NBA’s most valuable trade chips (not that there’s any chance they’re going anywhere).

Pacers Notes: Turner, Hield, Nembhard, Haliburton

November 29th, 2022 at 1:55pm CST by Arthur Hill

Lakers fans offered loud cheers Monday night for Myles Turner and Buddy Hield, two Pacers veterans who have been rumored as L.A. trade targets for several months, writes Kyle Goon of The Orange County Register. The Lakers rejected the potential swap because of Indiana’s insistence on getting unprotected first-round picks in 2027 and 2029, but the rumors haven’t died down.

Both players made an impression on Monday as the Pacers pulled out a win on a last-second shot. Turner, whose upcoming free agency both makes him a trade candidate and complicates his value, had 15 points, 13 rebounds and three blocked shots. Hield, who has one year left on his contract at $18.6MM, also had 15 points, although he was just 1-of-6 from three-point range.

“It’s been great to be with those guys,” coach Rick Carlisle told reporters on Monday. “I can see where people would have interest in them. I have a lot of interest in not trading them, you know?”

If the Lakers revisit the deal with Indiana, it may not happen for a while, Goon adds. L.A. has several players who can’t be moved until December 15, and a Monday report from ESPN indicated that the type of trade the Lakers are hoping to make may not be available until January.

Here’s more on the Pacers:

Carlisle believes the franchise got a draft steal in Andrew Nembhard, who hit the game-winning shot on Monday. Nembhard, who was taken with the first pick in the second round, has earned a rotation role and is averaging 7.1 PPG in 20.7 minutes per night. “He’ll go down as a top-12 or (top-)15 pick in this draft when it’s all said and done,” Carlisle said (Twitter video link from Alex Golden). “It’s where he should have been taken.”
In a discussion for The Athletic, Anthony Slater and Sam Amick revisit the Tyrese Haliburton/Domantas Sabonis deal from last season’s trade deadline. While Slater and Amick acknowledge that there’s some nuance involved when reevaluating the trade, they point to the Kings‘ and Pacers’ success so far this season and suggest it could end up as a win-win. Haliburton has been playing some of the best basketball of his career as of late, having become the first player since the NBA began tracking turnovers in 1977 to record at least 40 assists without a turnover over a three-game span (Twitter link).
Within that same Athletic story, Amick writes that a number of people around the NBA believe the Pacers’ desire to continue tearing down their roster “just isn’t as strong as advertised.” Team owner Herb Simon has long been averse to tanking, so if Indiana stays competitive, the odds of the team trading away key veteran contributors before the deadline seem likely to decline.

Luke Adams contributed to this post.

Central Notes: Turner, Pacers, Middleton, Caruso

November 28th, 2022 at 10:04pm CST by Dana Gauruder

It’s uncertain how changing agents will impact Pacers center Myles Turner this season, Marc Stein writes in his latest Substack newsletter.

Turner, who is headed to free agency, still has fans within the Pacers’ organization, according to Stein. His name has been in the trade rumor mill for quite awhile, though his initial hope was to play out this season and then head to free agency, Stein adds.

It remains to be seen whether the Pacers will hold onto Turner through the trade deadline if they’re unable to sign him to an extension. He’s averaging 18.2 points, 8.1 rebounds and 2.8 blocks per game this season.

We have more from the Central Division:

Even with Turner in the lineup, the Pacers are vulnerable to getting pushed around up front, Dustin Dopirak of the Indianapolis Star notes. That point was reinforced by the Clippers’ Ivica Zubac, who powered his way to 31 points and 29 rebounds on Sunday. “He had a great presence around the basket. We didn’t do a good job on him,” coach Rick Carlisle said. “I don’t know what else there is to say.”
Bucks forward Khris Middleton was once again assigned to the G League’s Wisconsin Herd on Monday to get some practice time and then recalled, Eric Nehm of The Athletic tweets. When asked if Middleton might return to action on Wednesday, coach Mike Budenholzer remained vague. “We’ll just see how today goes,” he said. “We’re not going to put anything ahead of itself and just hopefully he has another great session today, see how he feels and just the old cliché take it day by day.” Middleton underwent offseason wrist surgery and has yet to make his season debut.
The Bulls are keeping a close watch on Alex Caruso‘s minutes, according to Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times. Caruso has been dealing with a right ankle sprain and hasn’t practiced in recent days. “Just trying to be conscientious of his minutes and those long stretches for him because he does play hard,’’ coach Billy Donovan said. “From my perspective, there are going to be some nights where he’s going to get over 30 minutes. For the most part, we’re just trying to manage how hard he does play and compete in relationship to the number of minutes he’s getting.’’

Locker Room Leaders Believe Lakers Are “Couple Of Players Away” From Contention

November 28th, 2022 at 4:05pm CST by Rory Maher

Sources tell ESPN’s Dave McMenamin that there’s a “shared belief by leaders in the Lakers‘ locker room that the team is only a couple of players away” from contention. He doesn’t list them by name, but presumably McMenamin is referring to LeBron James and Anthony Davis.

McMenamin mostly focuses on the pros and cons of the potential Russell Westbrook for Buddy Hield and Myles Turner deal with the Pacers that fell apart before the season when the Lakers refused to include both of their movable first-round picks (2027 and 2029). L.A. faces Indiana on Monday night.

ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski previously reported that the Lakers were going to wait until around Thanksgiving to evaluate the team before making any changes. McMenamin reports that the timeline has been adjusted to December 15, when most free agents signed in the offseason become trade-eligible.

However, as McMenamin notes, December trades are pretty rare because “league business slows down around the holidays,” so he views mid-January as a more likely timeframe for potential trades. If the 11-8 Pacers keep winning, the Lakers believe Pacers owner Herb Simon might be unwilling to trade Hield and Turner for a deal focused on draft capital, preferring to field a more competitive club.

The Lakers have played better of late, winning five of their past six games, and currently sit with a 7-11 record. But their schedule was pretty soft during that stretch (three wins over the Spurs, one over the Pistons), and they’re about to play 15 of their next 23 games on the road, per McMenamin.

McMenamin suggests the Lakers might be better off making a couple of trades instead of going all-in on the Pacers deal — one involving Westbrook and one first-rounder, and another involving Patrick Beverley, Kendrick Nunn and the other first-round pick — to get impact players. That’s assuming the front office decides the team has a legitimate shot at title contention, of course.

Whichever path they take, whether it be minor or major trades, the Lakers are focused on upgrading their perimeter shooting and size, sources tell Jovan Buha of The Athletic.

Central Notes: Haliburton, Mobley, Allen, Bogdanovic

November 26th, 2022 at 8:48pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Pacers were expected to be one of the NBA’s worst teams before the season began, but they’re fourth in the East after 18 games, writes Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star. The turnaround that led to the 11-7 start began in February with a trade that brought Tyrese Haliburton from the Kings. The electrifying 22-year-old guard quickly took charge of his new team.

“He immediately saw the opportunity to be the leader of a franchise,” coach Rick Carlisle said. “He never looked at if it was just his thing just by virtue of being here. He knew he had to do the right things, put the work in, not skip steps. He’s done everything we could have asked. … Haliburton has been a godsend for this franchise.”

Haliburton is putting up numbers that should have him in contention for an All-Star berth with 19.9 points, 4.5 rebounds and a league-leading 11.1 assists per game. He’s creating good shots for his teammates, and he’s running the show with a relaxed demeanor that keeps everyone at ease.

“There’s a lot of authentic people in this room,” Haliburton said. “And a lot of people who feel like we have something to prove. We don’t come with a lot of egos. We’re a lot of young guys who feel like we have a lot to prove to ourselves and others and understanding the best way for us to prove anything is to win. And obviously guys have a chip on our shoulder. Every major writer in America, it feels like, put us 15th in the East and 30th in the NBA.”

There’s more from the Central Division:

Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo paid a huge compliment to Cavaliers second-year big man Evan Mobley after their meeting Friday night, per Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. The two-time MVP suggested that Mobley might eventually be a better player than him. “I didn’t average what he is in my second season, so he’s already ahead of me,” Antetokounmpo said. “It’s in his hands. If he stays humble, continues to work hard, focuses on the game and shows love to the game of basketball, he is going to be really good.”
Cavaliers center Jarrett Allen is listed as questionable for Sunday’s game with a low back contusion, tweets Kelsey Russo of The Athletic. Allen landed hard after attempting to block a shot in the first quarter Friday and was eventually ruled out.
Pistons forward Bojan Bogdanovic appears to have avoided a serious injury after a collision on Friday (Twitter video link from Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic). Bogdanovic is listed as questionable for Sunday with knee and ankle soreness, tweets Keith Langlois of NBA.com

Pacers’ Myles Turner Changing Agents

November 26th, 2022 at 7:57am CST by Luke Adams

Pacers big man Myles Turner is leaving BDA Sports after two years with the agency, according to Marc Stein, who reports (via Twitter) that Turner is expected to sign with CAA Sports for representation going forward.

While it’s not always all that newsworthy when a player changes agents, there are a few factors that make Turner’s switch worth noting. For one, the 26-year-old is in on an expiring contract and has long been considered a trade candidate, so it’s a big year for him. He could sign the biggest contract of his career during next summer’s free agent period — or even earlier, if he agrees to an extension.

As Scott Agness of Fieldhouse Files observes (via Twitter), BDA Sports represents Suns center Deandre Ayton, who signed a four-year, maximum-salary offer sheet with Indiana this past offseason. Turner leaving the agency doesn’t necessarily mean he was upset by his representatives putting another client in position to become the Pacers’ center of the future, but it’s possible the Ayton situation factored into his decision.

Agness also points out that a handful of Pacers players – including franchise cornerstone Tyrese Haliburton – are already represented by CAA. Again, that doesn’t necessarily mean that Turner will be looking to sign a long-term contract to remain in Indiana, but if the two sides open extension negotiations, it certainly won’t hurt.

The Pacers can offer Turner a first-year salary of up to $21.6MM on a straight-up veteran extension. However, they could bump that number upward if they were to renegotiate his current-year salary, as we outlined earlier this month.

Poll: Will The Pacers Make The Playoffs?

November 25th, 2022 at 4:03pm CST by Luke Adams

Coming into the 2022/23 NBA season, the Pacers were projected to be the worst team in the Eastern Conference and one of the league’s bottom-feeders, a prime candidate to be in the mix for projected No. 1 pick Victor Wembanyama. When we asked our readers in September whether Indiana would win over or under 23.5 games, 62.8% of poll respondents took the under.

Like the Jazz in the West though, the Pacers haven’t looked at all like a tanking team during the first several weeks of the season. After losing three of their first four games while starting center Myles Turner sat out with an ankle injury, the Pacers have won nine of their last 13.

A number of those wins have come over probable lottery teams, including the Rockets, Pistons, Hornets, and Magic (twice). But Indiana has mixed some impressive victories into its run, beating Brooklyn, Miami, New Orleans, and Toronto.

Tyrese Haliburton‘s evolution into a legitimate All-Star candidate has been a key factor in the Pacers’ early-season success. The former lottery pick is leading the NBA in assists per game (10.9) while averaging nearly 20 points per game (19.8) and posting an extremely efficient .484/.388/.863 shooting line.

He’s gotten plenty of help in the backcourt from this year’s No. 6 overall pick, Bennedict Mathurin, who looks like a contender for both the Rookie of the Year and Sixth Man of the Year awards. In 17 games off the bench, the rookie is putting up 19.4 PPG on .444/.433/.817 shooting.

The fact that Indiana’s backcourt of the future is producing at such a high level in the present is the most important reason why the team no longer appears to be involved in the Wembanyama sweepstakes. But Haliburton and Mathurin are surrounded by nice mix of veterans and up-and-comers.

In addition to his usual rim protection, Turner is posting the best offensive numbers of his career so far, including 18.6 PPG and a .452 3PT%; Buddy Hield remains one of the NBA’s best shooters, scoring 17.2 points and making 3.8 threes per game at a 37.6% clip; and former first-round picks Jalen Smith, Chris Duarte, and Isaiah Jackson have emerged as solid rotation pieces, as has rookie Andrew Nembhard.

The Pacers don’t have the talent to contend for a title this season, of course, but they’ve historically done all they can to avoid tanking, and this doesn’t look at all like a bottom-five NBA team. It may not even be a bottom-five team in the East.

At 10-7, the Pacers currently hold the conference’s No. 5 seed, but a number of the teams behind them in the standings – including the Raptors, Sixers, Nets, Bulls, and Heat – have playoff aspirations and will be looking to push Indiana out of top six. The Wizards and Knicks are also just behind Indiana in the standings and look capable of being play-in teams.

We want to know what you think. Will the Pacers fade after their strong start, or should we expect to see them in the play-in tournament – or even the playoffs – this spring?

Vote in our poll, then head to the comment section to weigh in with your predictions.

Pacers, Spurs Remain Well Below NBA’s Salary Floor

November 25th, 2022 at 10:09am CST by Luke Adams

Besides being the NBA’s only two teams with any cap room still available this season, the Pacers and Spurs are also the only two clubs whose team salaries remain well below the league’s salary “floor.”

As we explain in a glossary entry, the salary floor is the minimum amount that NBA teams are required to spend on player salaries in a given season. That amount is set at 90% of the season’s cap, rounded to the nearest thousand. So, since the cap for the 2022/23 campaign is $123,655,000, the floor is $111,290,000.

By our estimation, the Pacers’ team salary for the 2022/23 season is just under $96MM, while the Spurs’ figure is just shy of $95MM. Both clubs have the ability to create upwards of $28-30MM in cap room — they’re also both more than $15MM short of the salary floor.

There’s no rule stating that the Pacers and Spurs must sign free agents or trade for players to make up that $15MM+ difference. Last season, for example, the Thunder finished the season far below the salary floor.

In that scenario, the team is simply obligated to make up the difference by distributing the shortfall to the players on its roster. Oklahoma City players earned a nice year-end bonus last season, and players in Indiana and San Antonio may be hoping that their teams don’t add major salary in the coming months so that they’ll get similar salary bumps at the end of this season.

However, it’s unlikely that the Pacers and Spurs will both simply let all of their leftover cap room go unused. It figures to come in handy leading up to the February 10 trade deadline, when teams around the NBA may be looking to shed a contract or two. Indiana and San Antonio are well positioned to accommodate salary dumps if their trade partners entice them to take on unwanted contracts by attaching draft picks and/or young prospects.

The two teams’ cap room will also allow them to explore mismatched trades. For instance, there have been rumors that the Lakers and Spurs have discussed the possibility of a deal that would send Russell Westbrook and draft compensation to San Antonio in exchange for Doug McDermott and Josh Richardson. McDermott’s and Richardson’s combined cap hit is just below $26MM, which wouldn’t be nearly enough to match Westbrook’s $47MM+ salary if both teams were operating over the cap. But the Spurs could take on that extra salary using their cap space.

As we discussed last week, the Pacers have another potential path for using a big chunk of their cap room and getting above the salary floor. Signing Myles Turner to a contract extension that includes a salary renegotiation for the current season, giving him an immediate raise, would be a way to make use of their cap flexibility and incentivize Turner to sign on the dotted line, assuming there’s mutual interest in a long-term deal. The Spurs don’t have any player eligible for renegotiation.

The Thunder’s relative inactivity at last season’s trade deadline is a reminder that we shouldn’t necessarily expect major action when a team is sitting on unused cap room during the season. Still, it’s safe to assume that teams around the league will be in touch with the Pacers and Spurs in the coming weeks and months, proposing creative ways for the two clubs to make use of their cap flexibility. Indiana and San Antonio will be two teams worth watching closely as February 10 nears.

And-Ones: Frazier, Offseason Moves, 2023 Draft, Rookies

November 25th, 2022 at 8:49am CST by Luke Adams

Former Rockets guard Michael Frazier has signed with the Illawara Hawks of Australia’s National Basketball League, the team announced in a press release. Frazier will serve as an injury replacement for another former NBA player, George King.

Frazier, 28, went undrafted out of Florida in 2015 and spent several seasons in the G League, plus one in Italy, before getting an opportunity to make his NBA debut in 2020 for Houston. He appeared in 13 games during the 2019/20 season as a Rocket, then returned to the G League before spending last season in Australia with the Perth Wildcats.

Having seen Frazier play for Perth last season, Illawara Hawks head coach Jacob Jackomas believes his team is getting a quality player: “He is a willing defender with great size and strength, and be it at the 3-point line or getting downhill and attacking the basket, we feel like he will make an immediate impact on the group.”

Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

The Kings, Trail Blazers, and Pacers look like some of the under-the-radar winners of the 2022 offseason, writes ESPN’s Bobby Marks (subscription required). Marks also highlights Magic big man Bol Bol, Bucks guard Jevon Carter, and Suns wing Damion Lee as some of the best value signings of the summer.
Jonathan Wasserman of Bleacher Report has updated his 2023 mock draft, projecting all 58 picks and providing analysis for each one. Next year’s draft will only be 58 picks instead of 60 because the Sixers and Bulls have forfeited their second-rounders due to free agency gun-jumping violations.
Sam Vecenie of The Athletic ranks this season’s top 15 rookie performers to date, with Magic forward Paolo Banchero and Pacers guard Bennedict Mathurin leading the way. The only second-round pick to crack the top 15 is Raptors big man Christian Koloko, who was selected 33rd overall but ranks eighth on Vecenie’s list.