Indiana Pacers Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Pacers Notes: Nesmith, Cap, Brissett, Sabonis, Taylor

July 12th, 2022 at 7:55am CST by Luke Adams

Malcolm Brogdon has passed his physical with the Celtics, clearing the way for Aaron Nesmith to officially join the Pacers‘ Summer League team, a league source tells James Boyd of The Indianapolis Star. With the Pacers/Celtics trade that sent Nesmith to Indiana officially irreversible, the former lottery pick could make his Summer League debut with the Pacers as soon as Tuesday, Boyd writes.

The completion of the Brogdon deal also clears a few extra million dollars in cap space for the Pacers, who reportedly have their eye on restricted free agent center Deandre Ayton.

Indiana doesn’t have quite enough cap room to make Ayton a maximum-salary offer, but the team is close to getting there. The Pacers also could be attempting to work out a sign-and-trade deal with the Suns so they don’t have to worry about the possibility of Phoenix matching an offer sheet.

As we wait to see what happens on the Ayton front, let’s round up a few more Pacers-related items…

The Pacers decided to pick up Oshae Brissett‘s team option in June rather than declining it to negotiate a longer-term contract with the young swingman as a restricted free agent. However, Brissett tells Boyd that he wasn’t bothered by that decision and still hopes to re-sign with the team in unrestricted free agency next summer. “They believed in me when no one else did, so whatever they had on the table I was really ready (to accept) and come back and give it my all for this year,” he said. “I want to be here long term, so I know next year, whatever happens, Indiana’s always gonna be my No. 1 option to be back. The fans and the team have welcomed me with open arms and I’ll never forget that.”
Former Pacers center Domantas Sabonis told Boyd that being traded from Indiana to Sacramento was “hard” and that he expects to have “a lot of emotions” when he plays in Indiana for the first time as a King. “I love Indiana,” Sabonis said. “That was basically my first real NBA experience. I spent one year in OKC and then got traded, so that was my home for a long time, you know?”
After having his salary guaranteed for 2022/23, Terry Taylor spoke to Scott Agness of Fieldhouse Files about the role he envisions himself playing for the Pacers next season. “I think I can come in and do the little things to help the team, like play defense, be a versatile defender, crash the offensive glass like I usually do,” Taylor said. “And just be tough-minded and do all the dirty plays that nobody else wants to do.”

Pacers Continue To Eye Deandre Ayton

July 11th, 2022 at 1:18pm CST by Luke Adams

It has been nearly 11 full days since the NBA’s 2022 free agent period opened, and Suns restricted free agent center Deandre Ayton still doesn’t have a new deal in place. However, it’s possible that will change soon.

Sources told Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic over the weekend that the Pacers are “seriously” interested in Ayton. Indiana’s interest in the former No. 1 overall pick has been reported repeatedly in recent weeks, but it’s notable that the team’s interest hasn’t waned — the Pacers are one of just two teams in the NBA (along with the Spurs) that have the cap flexibility necessary to make Ayton a significant offer.

According to Marc Stein (Twitter link), there’s “great interest” among league insiders in Las Vegas about whether the Pacers will move forward with what Stein refers to as a “widely anticipated” offer sheet for Ayton. Appearing on ESPN’s Get Up (video link) on Monday, Brian Windhorst also expressed a belief that Indiana is on the verge of making a play for the young center.

“We believe that the Indiana Pacers are very close to giving Deandre Ayton an offer sheet or executing a sign-and-trade,” Windhorst said. “The Pacers had to do some business over the weekend and complete the Malcolm Brogdon trade. That is now on the verge of happening and that is opening enough cap space to almost give Deandre Ayton the max contract he is looking for. We could see something with the Pacers and Ayton as early as today.”

As James Boyd of The Indianapolis Star writes, while the Pacers and Celtics announced their trade on Saturday, Brogdon still technically has to pass his physical before the deal is officially irreversible. At that point, Indiana will have approximately $26.4MM in cap room.

Ayton’s maximum salary is about $30.9MM, so Indiana would have to waive-and-stretch multiple players or trade someone to open up a max-salary slot. The team could also present Ayton with an offer sheet that’s a little below the max, but it’s not clear whether he’d be willing to sign such an offer. And of course, the lower the starting salary in an offer sheet, the more likely the Suns are to match it.

A sign-and-trade deal in which Indiana sends out a player or two could potentially get everyone what they want — Ayton could get his max salary, the Pacers could get their man without having to worry about an offer sheet being matched, and the Suns could avoid losing their former top pick for nothing. Myles Turner would be the most obvious trade candidate in that scenario.

However, signing-and-trading Ayton to Indiana would deprive Phoenix of one of its top assets for a potential Kevin Durant trade, so the Suns will likely drive a hard bargain with the Pacers, knowing that if they don’t get a sign-and-trade offer they like, they could simply match any offer sheet Ayton signs.

Still, that may not be an ideal outcome for the Suns, who reportedly aren’t enthusiastic about paying Ayton max money. Additionally, if they were to match an offer sheet, the Suns wouldn’t be able to trade Ayton until January 15, and even then, any deal this season would require his consent.

With so many variables in play, every involved party will have to weigh its options carefully before moving forward. But it sounds like we could get action on the Ayton front sooner rather than later.

Lakers Rumors: Irving, Hield, Gordon, Turner, LeBron

July 9th, 2022 at 10:59pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Lakers continue to focus on Kyrie Irving, but it’s unlikely that the Nets will give him up without at least one first-round pick in return, Marc Stein writes in his latest column for Substack. Irving was in L.A. this week to watch the WNBA’s Sparks, which Stein characterizes as making “his current presence in Los Angeles loudly known.”

Although Irving would clearly like to reunite with former teammate LeBron James, Stein says the Lakers aren’t making any promises behind the scenes. General manager Rob Pelinka said in a TV interview Friday that he’s still working to upgrade the roster, but league rules prevent him from speaking specifically about a possible deal for Irving.

The Lakers’ concerns about overspending could be a major obstacle to getting a trade done, Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated explained on Ryen Rusillo’s podcast (hat tip to Eric Eulau of SI’s Lakers page). Although they’re among the highest-valued teams in the NBA, Mannix calls the Lakers “a mom-and-pop organization masquerading as a multi-billion dollar franchise” and says they’re reluctant to assume all the costs that would be necessary to convince Brooklyn to make a deal.

“There’s not a huge appetite in L.A. at this point to take on all the money they’re going to have to take on to be a deeper-into-the-luxury-tax team and fork over a first-round pick in return,” Mannix said. “As long as that is the asking price, the Lakers are not going to get their hands on Kyrie Irving.”

There’s more from Los Angeles:

Pelinka’s next priority will be to find more shooters, Stein adds in the same piece. The Lakers have been linked to the Pacers‘ Buddy Hield and the Rockets‘ Eric Gordon, who were both clients of Pelinka when he was an agent.
A source tells Stein that L.A. probably doesn’t have enough assets to get both Hield and Myles Turner from Indiana. Reports have described them as “prime targets” if the Lakers can’t put together a deal for Irving.
Pelinka’s willingness to meet Brooklyn’s price for Irving could be influenced by James’ upcoming extension date, Stein adds. Starting August 4, James will be eligible to sign a two-year extension worth about $100MM, and Stein suggests that Pelinka might want to have a major deal in place by then to ensure that his star player is happy.

Central Notes: Pacers, Sexton, Rubio, Bulls

July 9th, 2022 at 6:09pm CST by Luke Adams

As part of the trade sending Malcolm Brogdon to Boston, new Pacers Nik Stauskas, Juwan Morgan, and Malik Fitts all received significant partial guarantees on their minimum-salary contracts for 2022/23.

Stauskas had $2,106,932 of his salary guaranteed, while Morgan received a partial guarantee of $1,728,689 and Fitts got $1,665,650, Hoops Rumors has learned. Each amount is exactly $86,988 below the player’s full salary.

When added to Daniel Theis‘ $8,694,369 salary and Aaron Nesmith‘s $3,804,360 salary, those partial guarantees total $18MM. That was precisely the amount the Celtics needed to send out to in order to legally match Brogdon’s incoming $22.6MM salary — Boston was able to take back up to 125% of that outgoing $18MM, plus $100K.

Here’s more from around the Central:

Spencer Davies of BasketballNews.com spoke to a team source who is “quite confident” that Collin Sexton will remain with the Cavaliers going forward, either as a result of a new agreement between the two sides or the guard accepting his qualifying offer.
Ricky Rubio‘s new three-year contract with the Cavaliers is fully guaranteed in the first two years and features a partial guarantee in year three, tweets Michael Scotto of HoopsHype. Rubio’s partial guarantee in 2024/25 is $4.25MM of a $6.44MM salary.
Patrick Williams‘ potential for further growth will be crucial if the Bulls hope to increase their ceiling, according to Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times, who wonders if 2022 first-rounder Dalen Terry could help Williams realize his upside. As Cowley explains, Terry pushed Williams hard in Summer League practices and the two engaged in some competitive banter during those sessions.

Pacers Trade Malcolm Brogdon To Celtics

July 9th, 2022 at 3:56pm CST by Luke Adams

JULY 9: The Celtics’ deal with the Pacers for Brogdon is now official, per an Indiana press release.

JULY 1: The Pacers have agreed to trade veteran guard Malcolm Brogdon to the Celtics, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link).

The deal will send center Daniel Theis, wing Aaron Nesmith, and a 2023 first-round pick to Indiana, Wojnarowski reports (via Twitter). Nik Stauskas, Malik Fitts, and Juwan Morgan are also headed to the Pacers in the swap, Wojnarowski adds (via Twitter).

The 2023 first-round pick the Pacers are acquiring in the trade will be top-12 protected, tweets Brian Robb of MassLive. If it doesn’t convey, Indiana will instead receive a second-rounder.

The Celtics wanted to acquire a “true play-making guard,” Wojnarowski explains (via Twitter), and were able to do so without including any of their core players in the package. Brogdon has battled injuries frequently over the course of his six-year career, but has been effective on both ends of the court when healthy.

In 2021/22, the 29-year-old averaged 19.1 PPG, 5.9 APG, and 5.1 RPG in 36 games (33.5 MPG) for the Pacers. Brogdon’s three-point percentage dipped to 31.2% last season, but he’s still a 37.6% career shooter from beyond the arc.

Although Brogdon’s name has come up frequently in trade rumors this offseason, he was primarily linked to the Wizards and Knicks in the weeks leading up to the draft. Washington addressed its point guard hole by agreeing to acquire Monte Morris and sign Delon Wright, while New York landed Jalen Brunson in free agency. That opened the door for another Eastern Conference club to make a deal with the Pacers.

Brogdon will earn $67.6MM over the next three seasons, including $22.6MM in 2022/23. In order to match his salary and make the trade legal, the Celtics will have to include five players in their package — the priciest of those players, Theis, is making $8.69MM next season, while Nesmith will earn $3.8MM. Stauskas, Fitts, and Morgan were on non-guaranteed minimum-salary contracts, which will become guaranteed for matching purposes, tweets Bobby Marks of ESPN.

The Celtics, who also reportedly agreed to sign Danilo Gallinari, now have about $167.5MM committed to 11 players, according to Chris Forsberg of NBC Sports Boston (Twitter link), so team ownership doesn’t appear worried about paying a tax bill in 2022/23. Depending on how deep into the tax Boston is willing to go, the club could also make use of its $17MM trade exception, which won’t be utilized in this deal.

The Pacers, meanwhile, had interest in Grant Williams, according to Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report (Twitter link), but were ultimately willing to accept for a Celtics’ 2023 first-round pick that could land pretty late in the 20s.

Indiana may also see value in Theis and Nesmith, but the deal is more about the first-rounder and the cap flexibility moving off Brogdon will create. In addition to clearing some long-term money, the Pacers now have about $31MM in projected cap room this summer, tweets Marks.

The two teams will have to wait until July 9 to officially complete the trade, Marks notes (via Twitter), since Morgan can’t be dealt until then.

Pacers Guarantee Terry Taylor’s 2022/23 Contract

July 9th, 2022 at 3:04pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Second-year Pacers shooting guard Terry Taylor‘s $1,563,518 salary for the 2022/23 season has been fully guaranteed by Indiana, per Tony East of Forbes (Twitter link).

Taylor, now 22, went undrafted out of Austin Peay State University in 2021. He first latched on with Indiana on an Exhibit 10 deal during the 2021 offseason. The team waived him in October before inking him to a two-way contract. The 6’5″ wing was subsequently promoted to the team’s 15-man roster this spring, alongside two-way point guard Duane Washington.

Across 33 games in 2021/22, Taylor enjoyed a productive rookie season off the bench for a lottery-bound Pacers club. He averaged 9.6 PPG, 5.2 RPG, and 1.2 APG across 21.6 MPG. He connected on 61.4% of his 6.7 field goal looks and 70.6% of his 1.5 charity stripe attempts.

In 14 contests while with the Pacers’ NBAGL affiliate club, the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, on his two-way contract, Taylor’s numbers were even more impressive. He averaged 18.9 PPG, 12.1 RPG, 2.2 APG, 1.4 SPG and 1.0 BPG, while making 67.4% of his field goals and 77.3% of his free throws.

Taylor’s 2022/23 salary was already partially guaranteed for $625K and was on track to become fully guaranteed if he remained under contract through Sunday — it appears the Pacers made their decision a little early.

Lakers Notes: Ham, James, Westbrook, Pippen Jr., Pacers, Davis

July 9th, 2022 at 9:25am CST by Dana Gauruder

New Lakers coach Darvin Ham declared his “love’ for the current roster during halftime of the team’s 104-84 summer league loss to the Suns, Dave McMenamin of ESPN writes. Rumors persist that Kyrie Irving‘s most likely destination if he’s traded is Los Angeles.

“We love everyone on our roster,” Ham said. “And until you’re not on our roster, you’re ours and we’re going to try to get better with the group that we have. That’s just the bottom line of it. I don’t know a player that’s come through this league in my 26 years that hasn’t had their name part of a trade rumor a time or two.”

We have more on the Lakers:

Russell Westbrook offered some ball-handling advice to rookie Scotty Pippen Jr., who signed a two-way contract . Pippen had a team-high 19 points but also five turnovers. “He gave me some pointers and I ended up using them,” Pippen said.
Westbrook and LeBron James didn’t exactly act like bosom buddies while watching the game, Kyle Goon of the Orange County Register notes. They sat in opposite corners of the Thomas & Mack Center and made no public acknowledgment of one another before Westbrook left the exhibition at halftime.
GM Rob Pelinka foreshadowed at least one big move to come while speaking on the NBA TV broadcast, Goon relays. “We’re not done,” Pelinka said. “We still have more work to do.” The Lakers have an open roster spot.
The Lakers tried in vain to engineer a multi-player trade with the Pacers, McMenamin said on ESPN (video link). McMenamin said “those talks basically went nowhere” because the Lakers’ offer wasn’t strong enough. McMenamin didn’t elaborate on what players were discussed, though it’s fair to speculate they might have either been targeting Myles Turner or Buddy Hield, who nearly got dealt to the Lakers last offseason.
In a wide ranging interview with Andscape’s Marc J. Spears, Ham hinted that Anthony Davis is the key to the team’s success. “With AD, I would say he’s the biggest factor,” Ham said. “I’m looking forward to him having a huge year this year. I know the way we’re going to play is going to benefit him. The way I’m going to take care of him, make sure we take care of him, it’s going to benefit him.”

Contract Details: Rubio, Bol, Dort, Boucher

July 7th, 2022 at 10:53pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Cavaliers will use a portion of their mid-level exception to sign Ricky Rubio, Chris Fedor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer tweets. Rubio has agreed to a three-year, $18.4MM contract to return to Cleveland.

Rubio, who suffered a torn ACL in late December, finished the season with the Pacers. The Cavs’ front office explored the possibility of a sign-and-trade with the Pacers but couldn’t come to an agreement, Fedor explains.

Here are a few more contract-related notes from around the league:

The second year of Bol Bol‘s contract with the Magic is a team option, Khobi Price of the Orlando Sentinel tweets. According to Spotrac, Bol Bol’s two-year deal is a minimum-salary contract worth a total of $3,968,718.
The unlikely bonuses in Luguentz Dort‘s contract with the Thunder are for making the All-Defensive Team and the Defensive Player of the Year award, according to ESPN’s Bobby Marks (video link). Those bonuses are worth $1MM annually. The five-year deal has a total base value of $82.5MM.
Chris Boucher‘s three-year, $35.2MM contract with the Raptors is fully guaranteed, Marks tweets. The first year of the contract is worth $12.7MM and his cap hits decline over the following two seasons.

Central Notes: Duarte, Travers, Smith, Simonovic

July 7th, 2022 at 10:04pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The toe injury that marred Chris Duarte‘s rookie season is still lingering, according to James Boyd of the Indianapolis Star. The Pacers guard initially suffered the left toe injury on February 13. He only played in five of the Pacers’ last 24 games.

“I’m just listening to my body right now,” he said. “Whatever my body tells me, if that be to stop, I stop. If not, then I keep going.”

Duarte still plans to play on the Pacers’ Summer League team.

We have more from the Central Division:

Cavaliers second-round pick Luke Travers will likely remain overseas next season, Chris Fedor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer writes. Travers is participating on the Cavs’ summer league team but with Cleveland’s current roster situation, the plan all along has been to stash the 6’7” wing. “At the end of the day, it’s whatever the team wants and that’s what I’m willing to do,” he said. “If that’s to go back and do another year then it is what it is. If that’s to stay, then I will do that as well.”
Jalen Smith could have gotten more money in free agency but he chose to re-sign with the Pacers because of his comfort level and the opportunity to be a starter, Boyd writes. “I chose my future over instant gratification,” said Smith, who signed a three-year deal with a player option. “I feel as though that was the biggest part. You don’t want to take on such a big task so early on in your life rather than trying to work towards it and miss out on it in the future, and that was pretty much the main thing that was going through my head the whole entire time.”
Improved conditioning could lead to more minutes for the Bulls’ Marko Simonovic, according to K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago. “Every day I try to improve my body and put some muscles on. The last two months, I did it,” he said. “And when I came back here, everybody said I’m looking better than I was before. Just keep working.” He appeared in nine games last season.

Trade/FA Rumors: Mitchell, Durant, Ayton, Pacers

July 7th, 2022 at 10:23am CST by Luke Adams

After reporting on The Hoop Collective (video link) earlier this week that Donovan Mitchell inquired about the Jazz‘s plan following the team’s trades of Rudy Gobert and Royce O’Neale, Brian Windhorst said during an appearance on ESPN’s Get Up on Thursday that the star guard is not believed to be on the verge of asking for a trade (video link).

“After the Gobert trade, there was a belief that maybe Mitchell would be next, and maybe at some point he will be,” Windhorst said. “But for now the Jazz are telling people they don’t intend to trade him, and on Mitchell’s side, he’s going to stand pat. He’s not going to force any action right now.”

Reports at the time of the Gobert trade indicated that the Jazz planned to retool their roster around Mitchell, while subsequent reporting suggested teams still believed the 25-year-old could be had for the right price. If Mitchell doesn’t express any desire to leave Utah, it seems very unlikely that the Jazz will move him this offseason.

Here are a few more trade and free agency rumors from around the NBA:

Although ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski still believes a Kevin Durant trade is likely to happen, he said during an appearance on NBA Today (video link) that it’s “absolutely” possible the former MVP could end up remaining with the Nets into the fall. “Brooklyn, they don’t have to take a deal that they don’t want to do. They don’t have to talk themselves into a deal,” Wojnarowski said. “At the same time, Kevin Durant, as he looks at the situation, could he look at it differently over time? That’s certainly a possibility.” Wojnarowski explained that he believes Durant could have second thoughts about his trade request if his potential new team would have to gut its roster to trade for him.
During an appearance on ESPN’s Get Up on Thursday (video link), Windhorst said the Durant sweepstakes may not be creating the frenzy the Nets had hoped for. “When the Nets put him on the market, I think they thought there was going to be a tremendous bidding war,” Windhorst said. “And while there’s a lot of interest, from what I can tell that bidding war isn’t really hot right now. The teams have made their offers and they don’t really feel the need to increase them.”
According to Windhorst, the return Utah received in the Gobert trade has complicated the Durant negotiations: “The Nets responded (to the Gobert trade) by saying, ‘The price for Durant just went higher,’ and the rest of the league is kind of saying, ‘We don’t think so. We don’t want to pay that price. We didn’t like that trade,'” Windhorst acknowledged that talks could heat up when team executives gather at Las Vegas for Summer League starting this week.
John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 (Twitter link) believes we may see action on the Deandre Ayton front before the end of the week, adding that he has heard “rumblings” about the possibility of the Pacers signing the Suns‘ restricted free agent center to an offer sheet.