The Pacers have cut center James Wiseman in addition to officially signing of Micah Potter and waiving Garrison Mathews, the team announced in a press release.
After playing one game for the team in late October, Wiseman rejoined the Pacers on December 20, signing a 10-day contract via a hardship exception. ESPN’s Bobby Marks notes (via Twitter) that Wiseman’s 10-day contract was terminated, which requires no waiver process but allows the big man to earn the full amount from the contract.
Wiseman suited up in three contests for Indiana after signing with them last week, averaging 13.0 minutes per game and scoring nine total points.
The former No. 2 overall pick in 2020 signed with the Pacers last season but only played five minutes before tearing his Achilles and missing the rest of the season. Still just 24 years old, he holds career averages of 9.0 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 0.7 blocks in 18.8 minutes per night.
Dustin Dopirak of the Indianapolis Star notes (via Twitter) that the Pacers are not getting another hardship exception at the moment. The banged-up team has made seven hardship signings already this season but may no longer be eligible if Aaron Nesmith (knee) and Ben Sheppard (calf) are getting close to returning from their respective injuries.
Time to go overseas for a year and comeback. Nothing wrong with it. He’s still young and talented to comeback and get on a team for multiple years.
Totally agree. He won’t be under the pressure to perform.
Top 10 on the all-time bust list.
Not really a bust, over hyped and lacked any college so he wasn’t ready for the NBA even though he had an NBA body.
I feel the term “bust” is overused but in Wiseman’s case it fits. Part of being a bust is the hype and he’s never came anywhere close to living up to it. He hasn’t even had a nice career like Andrew Wiggins or Shawn Bradley or others that have been labeled as busts.
Kirk Lacob personally chose Wiseman over the wishes of GM Myers and Coach Kerr (they wanted Haliburton at #2).
Wrong player. Kirk chose Smiley.
That was Ken :)
Myers and Kerr wanted Wiseman. Kerr went out of his way to change the coaching staff.
> Kirk Lacob personally chose Wiseman over the wishes
> of GM Myers and Coach Kerr (they wanted Haliburton at #2).
100% false. The choice of Wiseman at #2 is well-known to have been unanimous support by — including by Kerr, Myers, and Lacob.
link to basketballforever.com.
Your assertion is wrong in, at least, these 2 respects.
1. The process for how the Warriors make their draft picks is well-documented. No one person, especially a junior one like Kirk Lacob, can override the “collaborative” process of these 3 stakeholders: the GM (which has oversight over scouting and player development), the coach (with an interest in player fit), and owner (with long-term interest in the franchise). All 3 stakeholders will tell you that they’ve never made a pick where they couldn’t reach concensus.
2. Haliburton was chosen #12. That’s 10 picks below the #2 you claim that Kerr and Myers had the other-worldly problems to foresee. Hindsight is 20-20, but no team saw Haliburton as a high lottery pick.
If you followed the 2020 pre-draft, you’d know there was concensus it was a very weak one, and, moreover that 3 players — Ant Edwards, Wiseman, and Lamelo Ball — were in a top tier, far above the rest.
It was indeed a terrible draft. Of the top 15, only 3 have become over-average NBA starters: Edwards, Lamelo, and Haliburton. The remainder of the top 15 have been, as scouts predicted at the time, worthy of being picked 10-15 slots lower in the typical draft.
I would say that Avdija and Okongwu are both above average starters in the NBA.
Colin,
1) Avidja is an over-average starter. I stand corrected.
2) Okongwu was never been a starter in his first 5 NBA seasons, much less an over-average one. He began this, his 6th season, coming off the bench, and is starting now because Porzingis is injured.
The bottom half of the 1st round yielded good results I would say:
Tyrese Maxey is arguably the Eastern Conference MVP
Bane, Pritchard, Quickley (maybe) and McDaniels are average or better starters
Sad Bey and Vassell are starters who might be better fits as solid role players. Maybe Quickley also.
The 2nd round produced 3 solid 3-point specialists in Krejci, Joe, and Merrill and also Tre Jones bur that’s about it.
Naji Marshall and Pat Spencer are really the only notable non-drafted players from the 2020 class
Also Isaiah Stewart is an average or above-average backup center FWIW?
@Huh? Agree there are some nice players from the 2nd half of the 2020 1st round, but the group of 15 guys is still under-average, with a total of 1 All-Star appearance (Tyrese Maxey) over 5 years.
There are a lot of ways to measure a draft statistically — All-Star appearances, All-NBA, All-Defense, size and number of rookie extension contracts, etc. If you measure after 5 years, the 2020 is at or near the bottom in all of them.
“Kirk Lacob personally chose Wiseman over the wishes of GM Myers and Coach Kerr (they wanted Haliburton at #2).”
Is that what you want to believe? Because it’s not true. Not true in that particular case – GS as an organization wanted Wiseman. And not true in general. Because in general, no team will pick a guy who projects to go in the 2nd half of the lottery at #2. That doesn’t happen. It’s not how teams draft.
You can pick at #12 or #15 a guy who was projected to go late in the first or somewhere in the second round, sure. Joshua Primo, Yang Hansen. Teams do that.
But you don’t pick a guy mocked at #7-10 with a second pick. That doesn’t happen. Ever.
People always forget about the Covid season, knee injury, etc. He never really had a chance to play.
He can’t look any worse sitting on the end of the Bulls bench than Dalen Terry does. He might even turn out useful if the Bulls trade Vujevic.
Yes, so a bust.
Wiseman, Curry, Thompson, Green.
I read an old article. About how much tax money Warriors saved by trading Wiseman. Never realized it was that much. Considering they weren’t going to play him really. Let’s face it he was still finding his way. I get their side of it more now. Still these are the pitfalls for teams who draft 19 yr olds. No guarantees they will help in their first contract.
I still like him. He’s had bad luck. At the same time it’s up to him to change that. He has the talent imo.
Trading Wiseman wasn’t about tax savings. The 2nd unit with Poole/Moody/Kuminga/Wiseman sucked. They were giving up 30 points a night. They needed stability. At first, they had Draymond coming off the bench. But, that was unsustainable. That’s why they brought back GPII. The coaches knew Wiseman would take longer to develop. So, they shipped him to a place where he would have that freedom.
Teaching a big to give you Defense. Is like the easiest thing to do. Especially when he is only playing 18 mins. Payton was needed for D. Yet they let him walk cause of money. So the money does play a part. Always does really. Warriors won so you can’t fault them for it.
Huh? How did the Warriors win? They went from an unexpected title to getting bounced as a playin team.
They didn’t just let Payton walk. They ran out of cap room. They needed him for veteran floor leadership.
If teaching a big man to play defense, why do so many struggle with it? Wiseman had one of the best big man coaches in the world. He still struggled defensively.
Simple Warriors suck at it. See all the bigs Thibs puts out. Do you even understand what defense is. Its the easiest thing to teach anyone. Its all effort and positioning. Don’t ket your anger for me affect your intelligence.
They moved Wiseman to get Payton back. For a run at a chip. Cause he was a key in last one. Even though they let him walk.
Do we need a translator too.
IDGAF what you think about me. But you should care about responding with real answers. Just denying everything I say. Even first time posters can get that. I search everything I post. If I don’t know the facts. Like this. I can always learn
By trading James Wiseman in February 2023, the Golden State Warriors saved approximately $7 million in luxury tax for that season (2022-23) and an estimated $30 million for the following 2023-24 season, a huge financial relief from their massive luxury tax bill, which stemmed from his ~9.6M salary this year and ~12.2M next year, plus related penalties, totaling potential savings near $131M over two years if it was a pure salary dump.
No talent, trash can only.
I always thought he played well in Detroit. Didn’t really understand why they let him walk. He actually played more gms for Pistons than Warriors. And he put up decent numbers. The biggest mistake was throwing him into fire too soon. That was made by Warriors. He should have played a full yr in G-league minimum. Wiseman hadn’t even played college ball.
No team has really taken the extra time to nurture his game.
Pistons really were the ones who had best opportunity. Yet weren’t interested. Despite Wiseman looking as good as Duren. Today imo Pistons need another big to really contend. Reed and Stewart are their depth bigs. So you can see why we would question Pistons cutting Wiseman.
Wiseman played 87 gms for Pistons. And played 60 gms for Warriors. His stats for Pistons —
19.5 mins, 8.6 pts, 6.1 reb, 1 blk, 58% FG, 71% FT
Those are good stats for a backup C. For a 22 yr old who at the time still needed coaching. Imo Pistons blew this opportunity.
Wiseman needs to make his own breaks now. Get healthy first. Sign on a G-league team and get in basketball shape. Work on his game with coaching. Or go to Euro ball and work on his game. I would try and get Thibs to work with me for a month lols. Wiseman has been hurt almost as long as he’s been active in NBA. Except wit Pistons.
Pacers auditioning bigs with skill that have fell of the league. Wiseman, Okafor.
Wiseman is still young, if he puts up a no nonsense physical program, and learns how to defend, he could have a place in the league. He can score and has size and athleticism.
He could see Okafor’s case to know in which areas to improve. Okafor is a below average defender that hindered his place in the league, and is not a stretch big. I have not seen 5 players since he was drafted that can match his post scoring: he is one if the best low post scorers in the world as of today. Incredible skill, and outstanding fundamentals. Scores on anyone. The thing is defense and not winning. He was overshadowed by Embiid. I would not count him out of the league still, as he is still hovering around with 10-day contracts.
GS