2:32pm: The move is official, the team announced.
1:22pm: The Pacers are waiving Toney Douglas, a league source tells Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). Charania indicates the move has already taken place, though the team has yet to make an official announcement. Indiana had 15 other players with fully guaranteed salaries, but Douglas had a sizable partial guarantee of $600K. The move will leave the Pacers with 15 players, the regular season limit.
Douglas, 29, averaged 6.6 points in 11.6 minutes per game over five preseason appearances with Indiana. It appeared he had an uphill battle to stick for opening night despite his partial guarantee, which was the second largest in the NBA this preseason. The former 29th overall pick was briefly with the Pelicans last season after beginning 2014/15 with Jiangsu Nangang of China.
Today’s move is ostensibly a boon for Shayne Whittington, the Pacer with by far the least amount of guaranteed money on his contract aside from Douglas. He’s assured of only the one-year veteran’s minimum of $845,059, though the Pacers just re-signed him in late July, a couple of weeks before their deal with Douglas.
Did Douglas deserve to stick with the Pacers? Leave a comment to let us know.