The Pacers are “strongly weighing” a three-year offer in the $48MM range for free agent shooting guard Max Strus, Marc Stein writes in his latest Substack column.
Several teams are interested in Strus, who is likely to receive a new deal that exceeds the $12.4MM non-taxpayer mid-level exception, Stein adds. With more than $30MM in cap room, Indiana is in position to outbid many of its rivals.
Echoing a report from Jake Fischer earlier today, Stein states that Strus appears “almost certain” to be on the move after spending the past three seasons with the Heat. Fischer cited the Pistons and Magic as other teams with cap room that might make an offer to Strus.
Miami reportedly doesn’t want to commit the resources it would take to re-sign both Strus and Gabe Vincent, and it appears that Vincent is more of a priority.
Strus, 27, started all 23 playoff games for the Heat during their run to the NBA Finals. He was outstanding for most of the postseason, but struggled against Denver, shooting just 10-of-43 from three-point range.
I dunno, if I were the Pacers I’d keep my cap clean and make a run at OG Anonoby next year
That Duarte lottery pick ain’t looking good at all right now
A lot of the mocks at the time had them taking Kispert who is basically the same guy as Strus only younger and now also cheaper. So yeah, they are paying for the Duarte mistake.
16 mil a year for a dude who was a no show in the finals? Yikes
Unbelievable. He couldn’t throw a rock in the ocean in the Conference Finals and Finals. Disgusting overpay if true.
That’s the NBA marketplace for you ….. there are 30 teams in the league – some annual tankers, but many teams are always looking for starters and/or legit-rotational players.
It’s ultimately a bidding game, teams will have to overpay if you want to get that piece.
They will be looking to dump this contract by the deadline in year 2
Throw money at Cam Johnson if you are going to overpay. He is the only worthy overpay.IMO
Cam is restricted though. So they might make an offer but the nets might match too. You gotta remember that there is a floor teams have to hit with their payroll and their first choices may all end up staying on their current teams. So max fills a positional need and has playoff experience that he brings to a young team and the contract is only for 3 years, so I can see why the pacers would make this move.
Guessing this would be precursor to some sort of Heild move. Halliburton, Mathurin, Strus, Walker, and Turner starting 5.
Yuck. This only makes sense if they are planning on moving Hield. The roster doesn’t have a need for a shooter and Strus is a solid wing but he’s not worth $16m AAV. You’re not giving him that much to come off the bench which presumably means—short of trading Hield before the season starts—Nembhard, Mathurin, and Duarte are all coming off the bench. I mean that’s a solid bench trio but hardly ideal since I’d rather see them give minutes to those three (particularly Nembhard or Mathurin).
I mean the Pacers are in a weird spot…the team is not just one piece away but they pride themselves on not full on tanking making it harder to acquire that foundational building block player. And combined with being a small market team that has to overpay to convince free agents to sign with them, they really have to nail their signings. I’d rather them use this money for basically anything else…save it for Haliburton’s extension or use it to help facilitate trades and take on bad contracts in exchange for picks. Just please not $16m for Strus.
What are the comps? He’s not as good as Huerter (4/65M 16.25 avg), Dort (5/82M 16.4 avg), Kennard (4/64M 16 avg), KCP (3/39M 13 avg) or DFS (4/55M 13.75 avg). Slightly below Josh Hart (3/38M 12.6 avg – bout to reup). He’s probably on par with THT (3/30.8M 10.26 avg).
THT probably being his best comp… who signed 2 years ago. So that MLE really should be all anyone should be willing to fork over, so 3/48M is definitely an overpay.
The comp is that none of those other guys were sentenced to life in Indiana
If THT could hit a 3 he would’ve opted out because he’d be getting more money too. And deals always go up, especially with a lot of teams having cap space so you can’t just look at it like that. It’s probably a little bit more than what the Heat would wanna give him to stay but it’s not crazy. Pacers have to pay more to get a guy like that to leave Miami to come there. And again, they have to spend money to reach their cap floor so if everyone else says no or their teams match, then I understand the deal from the pacers standpoint
Just trade for Doug McDermott instead. Look at Hunter in Atlanta with AJ Griffin.
Nevermind they drafted the wrong PF. Should been Hendricks. Should of traded Turner. Yes go sign Max. Pacers are clueless like the Hawks and Celtics (trading Smart instead of Brodgon or White with picks. Picks are More important than Smart. SMH no loyalty. Who cares about picks
Trade Turner and Heild for Ayton. Trade Walker and Nwora for Hunter, Griffin and Jalen Johnson or OO
When is the stupid money going to end! This is getting out of hand! No way is Strus worth half of this contract