Heading into the 2019 offseason, the Pacers expect to have about $43-45MM in cap room available to spend, president of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard said today at his end-of-season press conference, per Scott Agness of The Athletic (Twitter link).
“I think that brings a lot of excitement and I think that allows for us to be super aggressive,” Pritchard said of the team’s financial situation, adding that the Pacers expect to highlight their strong culture as a primary selling point to free agents.
Asked about the Pacers’ potential spending power, Pritchard indicated that no significant restrictions have been placed on him by ownership, as Agness relays (via Twitter)
“(Team owner) Herb (Simon) wants to win. We set a budget. It’s a very high budget, I’ll tell you that,” Pritchard said. “Herb has never told me ‘No’ if it makes the team better. Not one time. … I want to think big.”
Here’s more on the Pacers:
- Bojan Bogdanovic will be the Pacers’ most notable free agent this summer, and Pritchard expects plenty of competition for the veteran swingman. “We would like to have extensive talks with Bojan. The truth is he’s a complete (unrestricted) free agent so he’s gonna have interest. You can feel that already,” Pritchard said today (Twitter link). “On July 1, I’m pretty sure I’m going to have a long conversation with Bojan.”
- There’s still no timeline for Victor Oladipo‘s return to the court, but Pritchard said Indiana’s injured star is “coming along nicely,” with the focus still on his ongoing physical therapy (Twitter link via Agness).
- Pritchard feels good about the No. 18 pick in the draft, but suggested that the team would be “open-minded” and “aggressive” about moving up or down in the draft, tweets Agness. “I would not be surprised if that pick is not the pick we pick,” Pritchard said.
- Pritchard praised young big man Domantas Sabonis, suggesting that the team would like to find a way to get him a bigger role next season (Twitter link via Agness). Sabonis will be eligible for a rookie scale extension starting in July.
Sabonis and the 18th pick could land a pretty good player in a trade, especially if Indiana uses some of their cap space to take back a bigger contract.
Brogdon sign and trade? Milwaukee gets a top shelf young center in sabonis, and they don’t have to worry about a Brogdon overpay. Indiana gets the other guard they need.
Milwaukee can then spend on kemba or just keep their other free agents…
Or not.
This Pacer fan says no thanks to Brogdon for Sabonis/#1.
Tired of hearing them say they’re going to find a role for Sabonis. They tried twin towers. His role is backup center and trade bait. Which, will not happen because they value him so much. So, Sabonis will continue to be sat upon.
How about a role for Kyle OQuin too while you’re at it.
In my opinion is a very easy issue finding a role for Sabonis, what about getting rid of Turner, trade Turner & put Sabonis as the starting center, KOQ can be the back up, easy right?
Yes they needed a guard this year and will in the future as well, so whichever has the most trade value, should have already been moved for a combo guard. Pritchard is stalling the inevitable for no good reason, since there are only so many center minutes to go around. OQuin would be an ideal 2nd string.