2019 Central NBA Free Agency Primer: Division with greatest potential for growth
Indiana Pacers
Situation Entering Offseason:
Tough year for the Pacers who were firmly planted in the top tier in the Eastern Conference prior to Victor Oladipo‘s injury. Granted, the Pacers toughest portion of the schedule also coincided with Dipo’s injury, but the fact the Pacers continued to push for a top seed only served to punctuate how solid they performed as a unit.
In the end, Indiana simply didn’t have enough to push past the Celtics but the team’s efforts and Nate McMillan are to be commended for how diligently they kept fighting.
Salary:
Cap Space: $ (47,520,442.00)
Floor Space: $ (24,432,675.00)
Max Space: $ 35,781,906.00
Projected Space: $ 34,101,266.00
*as per Keith Smith of Real GM
Key free agents to re-sign:
Where to begin – the Pacers hit the offseason with nine players on their roster hitting NBA free agency. Victor Oladipo is among the seven players contracted to return but as of May 1, 2019, the team was still unsure of an exact return date as per NBA.com.
The main issue, however, is three of the Pacers four point guards are free agents. Of those, Darren Collison has elected to retire despite having the ability to potentially earn between $10 to $12 million dollars next season. Cory Joseph is garnering attention from numerous clubs and the team declined Edmond Sumner‘s player option. This means the Pacers have just Aaron Holiday solidified at the point.
Additionally, the Pacers will either need to try to retain scorers like Bojan Bogdanovic who’ll surely draw interest in the open market or Joseph who also was among the most efficient from the perimeter last season.
Interestingly, the one area of the roster where the Pacers are strong is upfront but they still elected to add Goga Bitadze in the draft instead of looking at a wing or shooter.
In the upcoming free agent series, the Pacers top our list of potential targets given so many falls within the mid range.
Cory Joseph Expected To Receive Interest From Suns, Wizards, Kings, Bulls https://t.co/KcY26pdXkC
— RealGM (@RealGM) June 27, 2019
2019 Roster Depth:
- Aaron Holiday
- Alize Johnson
- T.J. Leaf
- Doug McDermott
- Victor Oladipo
- Domantas Sabonis
- Myles Turner
- T.J. Warren
Draft Picks:
- Goga Bitadze
Darren Collison was on target to secure a $10M-$12M annual salary in free agency. He retires at 31. https://t.co/456Y67RUva
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 29, 2019
2019 free agents
Thaddeus Young
Tyreke Evans (suspended two years for drug use)
Bojan Bogdanovic
Darren Collison (retired)
Cory Joseph
Kyle O’Quinn
Edmond Sumner (Team declined option, will work out longer term deal as per the Indy Star and Keith Smith’s tweet below)
Davon Reed (Restricted)
Wesley Matthews
Per league sources, the Indiana Pacers have officially declined their team option for guard Edmond Sumner. Indiana has also tendered a qualifying offer to Sumner, making him a restricted free agents.
— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) June 29, 2019
Per various reports, Indiana and Sumner are working on a new long-term deal.
2020 free agents
Domantas Sabonis (Restricted)
Alize Johnson (Restricted)