Pacers Making Strong Push For Shawn Marion

The Pacers are looking to make an impact addition in the wake of Paul George‘s injury and today’s development out of Indiana comes as no surprise.  The Pacers are making a strong push on free agent forward Shawn Marion and have placed calls on him in recent days, a league source tells Shams Charania of RealGM.  Marion is scheduling further meetings with NBA teams, Charania adds.

Marion, 36, started 76 regular season games for the Mavs last season and also started in all seven games of the Mavs’ losing first-round effort against the Spurs.  Yesterday, the Cavs hosted Marion for a visit and it has been said that Marion would like to join forces with LeBron James.  Still, the rival Pacers could provide Marion an enticing opportunity and maybe one with greater importance in the wake of George’s fractured leg.

Marion posted a career-worst 13.7 PER this past season, a drop from his 18.0 mark in the year prior.  The veteran appeared to be looking for something more lucrative than the minimum salary, but the Pacers are among the clubs that are limited to only paying out the minimum. Indiana could apply for a Disabled Player Exception worth $5.305MM, but doing so would require a formal medical prognosis that would confirm that George is expected to be out for the season. The 36-year-old averaged 10.4 points, 6.5 rebounds, 1.6 assists, and 1.2 steals in 76 games last season.

There are other veteran scorers available that could be of interest to Indiana, including Jordan Hamilton and Jordan Crawford.

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