Justin Holiday injured his left ankle in Friday’s preseason game but the Pacers guard is optimistic he’ll play in the October 20 season opener at Charlotte, David Woods of the Indianapolis Star reports. Holiday will likely miss the remaining preseason games.
Caris LeVert, who has been sidelined by a stress fracture in his back, isn’t participating in scrimmages yet but he’s “doing a little more each week” in practices, according to Pacers coach Rick Carlisle. Kelan Martin, who has twice agreed to push his salary guarantee date back in the hopes of making Indiana’s 15-man squad, is dealing with a hamstring injury.
We have more from the Central Division:
- It’s hard to envision Frank Jackson, who is battling Josh Jackson and Hamidou Diallo for minutes as the Pistons’ backup wings, being out of Dwane Casey’s rotation, Keith Langlois of Pistons.com writes. He provides instant offense off the bench as a penetrator and spot-up 3-point shooter. “His activity on the offensive end is hard to keep up with,” Casey said of the veteran guard. Jackson re-signed with the Pistons as a restricted free agent on a two-year deal with a team option for 2022/23.
- Former Seton Hall head coach Bobby Gonzalez is joining the Pistons as a scout, Jeff Goodman of Stadium tweets. His role will focus on college scouting, with the Big East and Atlantic 10 among the conferences he’ll monitor, Adam Zagoria of Forbes tweets.
- The Cavaliers aren’t well-positioned cap-wise despite their status as a rebuilding team, John Hollinger of The Athletic notes in his season preview. In part due to Kevin Love‘s bloated contract, the team is currently only $3MM below the luxury tax threshold. Their situation improves next season but that could change, depending upon a potential extension for Collin Sexton and the price tag. Hollinger projects Cleveland to finish 13th in the Eastern Conference.