The Pacers are waiving Mac McClung and signing Monte Morris, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania (Twitter links).
Morris will sign a one-year deal that’s non-guaranteed, reports Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star (via Twitter).
As ESPN’s Bobby Marks tweets, the Pacers will carry a $164,060 cap hit for the remainder of the season by waiving McClung, whose two-year contract was non-guaranteed for both 2025/26 and 2026/27.
McClung, a 6’2″ guard, has become a household name among NBA fans by winning the past three slam dunk contests despite rarely playing in the league. He appeared in three games with the Pacers, averaging 6.3 points, 1.3 rebounds and 1.7 steals in 11.3 minutes per contest, with a shooting slash line of .389/.200/.750.
McClung signed with Indiana on October 28 after an impressive showing during a free agent workout. Evidently the team prefers a more experienced player in Morris to man the point with several guards sidelined due to injuries.
The Pacers originally planned to sign Morris to compete for a roster spot in training camp, but the deal fell through when he sustained a calf injury in late September.
Morris, 30, is entering his ninth season in the league. He’s known for his ability to limit mistakes, with a career assist-to-turnover ratio of 4.9-to-1 — an elite mark.
Morris has been slowed by injuries the past couple years. He played 45 games (12.7 MPG) for Phoenix in 2024/25, averaging 5.2 PPG, 1.6 APG and 1.5 RPG on .426/.360/.826 shooting.
If the transactions are finalized today and Morris receives a minimum-salary deal, which seems likely, he will earn $2,999,979 this season, while the Pacers will carry a cap charge of $2,085,122. Both of those figures will be non-guaranteed until January.
The defending Eastern Conference champions have been absolutely ravaged by injuries this fall and are off to a disappointing 1-7 start. The Pacers lost to Brooklyn on Wednesday, giving the Nets their first win of the season.
Waive Dennis and Bradley and resign Wiseman and Mac. What are you doing
This should be investigated because why would they sign McClung to a two year deal and then proceed to waive him right aftwe
why?
Games have been played since then. They have seen him play recently?
I think the 2 year deal must be confusing to some. But It was not guaranteed.
Sometimes you do what it takes to get a player to sign. (Extra year).
It could have been a 47,000 year non-guaranteed contract instead.
And it would be effectively the same exact thing.
Cadagan, it is of no advantage to Mac McClung to sign the two year deal. He probably balked at it.
Explain it to us like we are five. Thanks in advance.
The two-year contract is an advantage for the team in case he unexpectedly sets the world on fire.
They have him tied up for the second year at the very, very low rate in that case.
Players get signed to non guaranteed two year deals all the time because it benefits the team. If they player works out, they get cheap labor, if the player doesn’t they waive him and move on.
The G-League is the reason why veterans are still free agents while crap like McClung and Matt Ryan constantly gets 10-day contracts
FckMUT, Blame the league implementing the salary cap.
NBA veterans are paid something like 3 million or so depending on their service time.
A guy from the G league has a much lower salary and for your 15th guy that’s fine with most teams looking to plug in a body when injuries pile up.
No I just think it’s stupid in the nba how you can’t sign someone to a minimum contract without going over the tax lines. They’re called the minimum for a reason and teams should be able to actually fill out their rosters if they can find guys who’d play for the minimum and not have it count against team salary if it’s only a 1 year deal, bht they can still be paid the same amount
SGA, but you still have to budget your roster to fit within the salary cap restrictions.
If not, then you could sign 4 Super Max guys and have a super team and be at the max cap.
So whatever that number is, say 50 mil ×4 guys is 200 million and then you’re saying they “should” be allowed to sign 11 more guys at the minimum.
That would be another 3 mil or so times 11 = $33 million. That’s $233 million in salary, which is not exactly how they want to run the league.Cut
The league wants teams to budget in a way that every team has 1 maybe 2 max guys, 3 very highly paid guys, a few mid-level guys, and then some minimum guys.
That spreads out the talent league wide. I think that’s their desire.
They also wish for the old baseball days when it was America’s game and guys stayed on the same team For a decade.
They want the loyalty again rather than the Kevin Durant moving around stuff.
I hope that makes sense. Just my two cents.
Yes great analysis I don’t understand how people don’t understand what the Cba is expected to do. It’s creating a middle class in the NBA. They’re trying to kill free agency to wear the superstars are not jumping around from 10:1 team because there’s not money to do that. Also they’re trying to kill off all these old-timers trying to get 40 and $50 million contracts that can’t carry teams because the money simply just won’t be there. And last but not least, the rookies were all getting super Max extensions. What were hurting the teams when they weren’t all Max players. So now that the money is tight and there’s a middle class only the top level rookies will will get those Max extension contracts. But glad you called it out your right on what your saying
Unfortunately not surprised. As a Pacer fan I was excited to see if he could bring some juice with all the injuries but he was constantly targeted on defense – effort there but no size and can’t fight through screens. In all three games he was a minus (on plus minus)…including a -7 in 2 minutes his last time out vs the Bucks (in a game the Pacers lost by 2 at the buzzer).
Love the guy and his motor but his size and 20% 3 point percentage wasn’t what the Pacers need right now.
Yes, and it just goes to show how tough the league really is.
On the surface or in the G league even you see this guy who is 6-2, can jump through the roof and he has a lot of talent.
He can shoot, he can score, he can drive, he can dish, And he can steal the ball on defense. But he can’t even sniff a roster spot.
How many times in pick up ball do you hear someone say, “yeah I should’ve made the league but I hurt my knee,” etc.
Sure maybe it’s possible but half the time I’m thinking to myself, bro you’re high.
I’ve said this many times, but people think I am hating. He is not a NBA player great guy athletic and a pretty good G-League player but there’s levels to this. I made a G League team and would never be able to sniff the NBA.
To answer everybody’s question, the reason why he was signed is because they probably didn’t see him in full action and then once he got on the practice court You can clearly see the difference that he wouldn’t be able to guard any NBA guard. It’s the same thing as bronny James he is not a NBA player the difference is his dad is playing in the NBA. If Mac McClung was to stick around in the NBA he would definitely score because you can score playing in the NBA. It’s playing winning basketball and he would not be able to contribute to winning basketball. Same as Bronny will never be able to contribute to winning basketball.
Buying buckets I’ve been saying it for five years.
There was one guy here who I would argue with every training camp as he bemoaned the lack of opportunity for Mac McClung.
I had to explain to him why he’s not an NBA player, but wouldn’t you know it the next fall he’d come back with the same argument:
lack of opportunity.
Put Mac McClung in the search box above and look for the articles in the fall and you’ll see the back-and-forth for five years.
Some people don’t really know about basketball. I’m one of those guys who really believe you can learn the game without playing. We have great coaches who never played NBA basketball but are great coaches. Some of the best basketball commentators didn’t play basketball, but you have to be a student of the game.
Some people think NBA basketball is NBA 2k were You just throw a bunch of good talented guys out there and you can win and that’s just not the case.
It’s not that he’s not a great guy and not a good player like you said. It’s just that he can’t guard anybody and he’s not a point guard and he’s really not a good enough scorer at the NBA level to be a two-guard. I really do like his game but like you said, there’s levels to this. I wouldn’t even go back and forth with people at a certain point when they can back up. They’re analysis for what they’re saying. That’s not to say that we are not all wrong. I’ll be honest if I am wrong nobody is 100 percent right. But you’re right he is not a NBA player hopefully he finds his nitch overseas
Yes, I have a theory on your first paragraph too lol.
The great players get by a lot on their athleticism instincts and natural ability.
The grinder like Dustin Pedroia in baseball or Scotty Brooks in basketball have to use every learned skill set to their advantage.
They have to learn proper form on shooting, how to dribble and protect the ball, when they go by a guy or went to shoot it, and all the ither small nuances of the game.
Thus they can teach those things to others whereas Michael Jordan might say,
“Ok, right here you want to shoot the turnaround. When you’re over there on that spot, you fake right and go past them on the left.”
Without writing a book, I hope that makes sense.
Yes and no. Great! Players have to have a little bit more than athleticism to be great. They usually have an elite skill and it depends what you’re considering. Great. For me there’s different categories. There’s All-Star. There’s all NBA player. There’s all-time position great, then there’s top 10 and then goat which is the top three of all time.
I believe you can be a good player with just athleticism but not a gray player. Great player has a elite skill at something and usually two or three things at their elite at. I think what set s the all-time grades from All Stars and all NBA players is the fundamentals. But American kids don’t learn fundamentals anymore. It’s why half of them wash out of the NBA and Europeans look better and are more skilled now. Americans are more athletic but they’re not more skilled and therein lies the problem with basketball moving forward and why most of our stars are foreign players
Yup, exactly.
He isn’t an NBA player. He should have been working on his PG skills since college. And he might have made it on a roster. Dunking the ball impresses
the casual fan.
Also – once folks healthy he would certainly have been the odd man out and cut at that point. Currently out are Nembhard, McConnell, Jones (he hasn’t played yet but certainly gonna see what your draft pick can do), and Mathrin. Mac already behind Peter and Q Jackson. Plus Shep can play in the backcourt as well. Not saying a strong player couldn’t jump many if those folks – but Mac wasn’t going to. This was always just a matter of time. Same thing will happen to Morris but maybe he can provide a bit more value now till then.
I could see Robinson- Earl signed to a second 10 day – then Morris cut and him signed to regular contract as folks come back. Obi out for long term brings that need – and he has shown up pretty well so far.
Morris is a NBA player until around 28 when his speed dips off. That’s why he keeps bouncing around from team to team because he’s not a floor general. He has a good enough scoring ability and a little bit of play making ability but once he loses that speed he’s just going to be too small and he’s not elite at the other skill sets that he does. I don’t think a lot of people understand. A jack of all trades is not going to last long in the NBA you have to have an elite skill set in the NBA. All-Stars and Superstars. They have 5 to 7 elite skills and obviously all-time players, your Curry, LeBron, Jordan and other are all world at multiple things
I am terrified Steve Kerr will tell the Warriors to get Mac, Seth Curry and Pat Spencer to the main roster. So sick of these tiny, no-defense guys…..