Pacers To Waive Taelon Peter
The Pacers plan to waive Taelon Peter, who is on a two-way contract, league sources tell Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link).
Indiana selected the 6’3″ guard with the 54th overall pick in last year’s draft. He signed a two-year, two-way deal with the Pacers last July.
Peter, 24, made 38 NBA appearances for the Pacers as a rookie, averaging 4.5 points, 1.6 rebounds and 1.1 assists in 12.9 minutes per game. His shooting slash line was .380/.328/.625.
The former Liberty standout also played 20 games (32.5 MPG) for Indiana’s G League affiliate, the Noblesville Boom, averaging 14.9 PPG, 5.2 RPG, 3.8 APG and 1.5 SPG on .415/.363/.833 shooting.
Peter just finished playing for the Pacers’ Summer League team in Las Vegas. He averaged 10.4 PPG, 1.8 RPG, 1.8 APG and 1.2 SPG on .500/.357/.833 shooting in five appearances (24.3 MPG), though he struggled with turnovers (2.2 per game).
More to come…
Summer League Notes: Heat, Slawson, Celtics, Clifford
The Heat are generally considered one of the best teams at unearthing and developing young talent. With a suddenly very expensive roster, the need to find hidden gems has become more important than ever. Luckily, they came away quite impressed with their second-round pick from the 2026 draft, Ryan Conwell, according to Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald.
Conwell played in four total Summer League games between the California Classic and Las Vegas and showed his unwavering confidence as a shooter, attempting 36 threes in that time, though he only hit 11 of them. It wasn’t just his shooting that impressed Summer League coach Wayne Ellington, though.
“Defensively, he competes his butt off,” Ellington said. “And then, obviously, offensively he’s a force and he makes tough shots. He makes plays for others. He has a very strong offensive game and it’s only going to continue to grow.”
Trevor Keels and Jahmir Young, two unrestricted free agent guards, both had strong performances and remain eligible for two-way contracts, while Vladislav Goldin and Tre Donaldson were able to secure two-way deals this offseason.
Meanwhile, undrafted wing Tre White was one of the standouts on Miami’s roster, averaging 17.3 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 1.8 steals in Las Vegas while hitting 40% of his threes. Chiang notes that he could be a candidate for a two-way or Exhibit 10 contract.
“He’s got all the intangibles,” Ellington said of White. “He’s got size. He’s got the shooting ability. He’s got the IQ. So, he’s a guy that is going to continue to get better. He showed some flashes as well during the summer league, and I look forward to seeing what he can do in the future.”
We have more from around Summer League:
- Two-way restricted free agent Jalen Slawson had an eventful Summer League for the Pacers, leading the team in both points (20.8) and blocks (3.2) per game, despite hitting just 29.0% of his threes. His penultimate game provided the full Slawson experience, Dustin Dopirak writes for the Indianapolis Star, with big mistakes and even bigger recoveries. In his final game, he finished with 22 points and four blocks and continued to show the outline of an NBA rotation wing, according to Akeem Glaspie of the Star. The highs he shows will make it hard for the Pacers to part with him, despite some glaring weaknesses as well.
- The Celtics came into the summer festivities with four featured players: Hugo Gonzalez, Chris Cenac Jr., Dillon Mitchell, and Amari Williams. The former three clearly improved their stock, while Williams’ stayed relatively stable, Souichi Terada writes for MassLive. Meanwhile, John Tonje, who spent most of last season on a two-way contract, played well enough to at least be in the conversation for a coveted two-way spot for next year.
- Nique Clifford didn’t have eye-popping stats for the Kings this summer, but he worked on improving as a leader for the less experienced players on the roster, he said to Sean Cunningham of KCRA News (Twitter video link). “I would say just more assertiveness, being aggressive, not questioning plays,” he said of what the Kings were looking for from him this year as compared to last year. “If I see something, go make the play… [last year] you could mess up a little more, this year being a little sharper.” He also talked about the need to be more aggressive defensively rather than being on his heels and letting opponents attack.
LeBron On FA Decision: ‘I Won’t Hold You Guys Up Too Much Longer’
For the first time since his free agency began, LeBron James made a pair of public appearances on Thursday in New York, taking part in a live taping of his Mind The Game podcast with Tyrese Haliburton at Fanatics Fest, then speaking to Boardroom co-founder Rich Kleiman at the CNBC and Boardroom Game Plan Summit later in the day.
As Dave McMenamin of ESPN writes, James wasn’t ready to announce his free agency decision at either event, playfully rebuffing Haliburton when the Pacers guard tried to bring up the subject, but he did confirm that he expects to choose a team relatively soon.
“I won’t hold you guys up too much longer,” LeBron said at the CNBC/Boardroom event.
Appearing on The Pat McAfee Show on Thursday (YouTube link), ESPN’s Shams Charania said, “I don’t know if I’m holding my breath for announcement this week,” but suggested James may reveal his choice next week, reiterating that the star forward and agent Rich Paul have received all the information they need to make a decision.
James, who is believed to be considering the Cavaliers, Heat, Sixers, Warriors, Timberwolves, and possibly the Nuggets, didn’t provide any real hints on Thursday about which way he’s leaning, but said he’s looking for the team that feels right “as a player” and “as a person,” as well as the one that is the best fit for his happiness and his family.
“It’s a big decision for not only myself, but for my family as well,” James said when asked by an 11-year-old audience member at the Mind The Game taping about his decision, per Stephen Whyno and Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press. “Just for the last part of my career and where I want to spend the last few years or the last year or the last two years of my NBA career … I’m going to try to fit into whatever team I’m going into — but also give them all the tools and give them all the knowledge that I’ve been able to grasp over the last 23 years. I know the game. I know the ins and outs of the game of basketball.”
We have more on LeBron:
- Haliburton said on Thursday that he texted James in June, before he had decided to leave the Lakers, to try to recruit him to the Pacers, per McMenamin. “And he texted me back two laughing/crying faces and that’s all I got,” Haliburton said with a laugh (Twitter video link via Scott Agness of Fieldhouse Files). “So, I decided from then on that I’m done pursuing him in free agency. I don’t know if it’s going to happen with Indiana.”
- James made a point during the Mind The Game podcast taping to thank the Lakers for how the franchise treated him over the course of his eight years in Los Angeles, as McMenamin relays. “Shout-out my former team, I spent eight great years with the Los Angeles Lakers,” James said. “One of the most historical franchises in the world. Shout-out (governor) Jeanie Buss, the whole Buss family. (President of basketball operations) Rob Pelinka. Everybody. All the coaches that I played for there. All my teammates. S–t, I am going to miss them all, obviously. So, that was an unbelievable ride and I’m just looking forward to what holds next as I wind down the final stages of my journey.”
- Appearing at a press conference in Miami on Thursday to introduce Giannis Antetokounmpo, Heat president Pat Riley admitted he’s not sure exactly where his team stands in the LeBron sweepstakes, according to Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN. “I don’t know, I’ll be honest with you,” Riley told ESPN. “Obviously, we’ve had conversations with Rich and they were very good. So if that happens and he wants to come to the ‘305,’ we got a golf course. The weather’s nice. Steve Kerr, same thing down here. And there’s no state tax. So that’s a little better than California.” Antetokounmpo also told Youngmisuk that he’d be “very, very excited” to team up with James in Miami. “He’s one of the best players to ever play this game, if not the best,” Giannis said. “(I’d) be able to learn so much from him.”
- In his own appearance at the Game Plan Summit, NBA commissioner Adam Silver said the league’s schedule-makers for the 2026/27 season are waiting to see where James ends up. “We have to finish up the schedule and where LeBron plays will affect the schedule,” Silver said, according to Whyno and Reynolds. “So, I would like him to make his announcement already so we can finish the schedule. As you can imagine, the teams are calling us, the networks are calling us, and everybody wants to lock in the schedule. It will influence how we set the schedule, how we set opening week, Christmas Day, etc. I need him to make a decision. But the direct answer is I have no inside information.”
Pacers To Guarantee Quenton Jackson’s 2026/27 Salary
The Pacers intend to guarantee Quenton Jackson‘s full $2,584,539 salary for the 2026/27 season, reports Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star (Twitter link).
The terms of Jackson’s deal assured him of at least a partial guarantee of $275K, with a full guarantee date of July 15. Indiana would need to waive him before the end of the day to avoid locking in the rest of his salary, but the team doesn’t plan to take that route, per Dopirak.
Jackson, 27, first signed a two-way contract with the Pacers in March 2024 and has been with the team since then, inking new two-way deals in July 2024 and July 2025 before being promoted to the standard roster this past February. At that time, he signed a three-year contract that featured a $602K rest-of-season salary along with the $275K partial guarantee for ’26/27.
The 6’4″ guard played an increased role last season for an Indiana team hit hard by injuries, setting new career highs in points (9.1), assists (2.9), rebounds (2.3), and minutes (18.3) per game across 49 appearances (19 starts). He also posted a strong shooting line of .470/.356/.824.
With Jackson’s salary locked in, the Pacers are now on the hook for about $206.3MM in guaranteed money for 14 players on standard contracts. They’re operating approximately $5.9MM above the luxury tax line and $2.2MM below a first-apron hard cap, so they don’t currently have enough room to sign a veteran as a 15th man.
Assuming Jackson finishes the season with Indiana, the front office will face another decision on him next offseason — his deal includes a $2.93MM team option for 2027/28.
Central Notes: Wilson, Duren, Lanier, Slawson, Kawamura
Caleb Wilson didn’t want to talk about his 35 points and seven three-pointers after his brilliant Summer League debut, according to Julia Poe of the Chicago Tribune. Instead, the Bulls’ lottery pick was disappointed that the team lost and he committed six turnovers and missed four free throws. Wilson, the No. 4 overall pick in last month’s draft, was considered part of a consensus top four and showed in his first game in Las Vegas why he belonged in that group.
“I feel like that’s a media-pushed narrative,” Wilson said. “In the beginning of the year, I wasn’t even a part of the ‘big four’ or whatever. I feel like that’s all something that’s been created by other people to try to stir up some type of drama. We’ll all play against each other and those will be competitive games. But that’s not something I really think about. When we play basketball, it’s basketball.”
Wilson is using the pre-draft talk as fuel.
“Caleb is hunting everybody,” fellow Bulls rookie Dailyn Swain said. “He won’t say it, but we know it. We can see it in his mentality pregame, during the game. He’s hunting these guys.”
Here’s more from the Central Division:
- The Pistons’ standoff with restricted free agent Jalen Duren continues, with Duren having limited options beyond a sign-and-trade transaction, something Detroit’s front office has vowed not to do. It would be beneficial for both parties to come to an agreement, Hunter Patterson of The Athletic writes, noting that there are precious few alternatives for the Pistons due to Duren’s age and skill set.
- Guard Chaz Lanier is ready to show growth after playing sparingly in his rookie season with the Pistons, The Detroit Free Press’ Omari Sankofa II writes. He’s aiming to earn a bigger role after appearing in 34 games after being drafted in the second round. “It’s a sense of a little bit more comfortability coming in,” Lanier said. “It’s my second year of Summer League. I’m taking on a leadership role with the guys, having been here for a year, having that one year of experience under my belt. I come out here and be more vocal, just being a leader … and going out here and having fun and showcasing what we’ve been working on all summer.” Lanier had 25 points in Detroit’s second Summer League game on Sunday, Sankofa tweets.
- The Pacers don’t currently have an open two-way slot, but Jalen Slawson received a two-way qualifying offer from the team in June and strengthened his case for on Saturday for one of those spots, according to Dustin Dopirak of the Indianapolis Star. In Indiana’s second Summer League game, Slawson finished with 26 points on 8-of-16 shooting, grabbed five rebounds and had one block. He blocked five shots in the Pacers’ Summer League opener on Friday but shot poorly from the field.
- Free agent Yuki Kawamura, a 25-year-old, 5’7″ guard from Japan, has given the Pacers a jolt of energy during Summer League action. “He’s an easy guy to like,” coach Rick Carlisle said, per Dopirak. “He just kind of explodes into the game. When the coach points to him on the bench, he just flies up to the scorer’s table, and then stuff just happens. He really knows how to play. He’s seeing things before they happen. He has a great sense for how to draw contact and put the defense in jail. He goes hard.”
Trail Blazers Claim Micah Potter Off Waivers
The Trail Blazers have claimed former Pacers big man Micah Potter off the waiver wire, according to the NBA’s official transaction log.
Indiana released Potter on Wednesday to make room beneath its first-apron hard cap to sign veteran forward/center Larry Nance Jr.
Following stints with Detroit and Utah, Potter appeared in a career-high 47 games in 2025/26 in his fifth NBA season, emerging as a rotation player for a Pacers team hit hard by injuries. The 28-year-old averaged 9.7 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 1.5 assists in 19.3 minutes per contest, posting an excellent .515/.423/.842 shooting line.
Indiana’s deal with the 6’9″ center included a $2.8MM team option for 2026/27, which the club exercised last week, but the terms of the agreement called for that salary to remain non-guaranteed even after the option was picked up. That will remain the case for Portland after the team claimed Potter’s contract off waivers.
Since Potter is on a minimum-salary contract, any team with enough cap room had the ability to place a claim on him using the minimum salary exception. The Blazers chose to take a closer look at Potter as a floor-spacing depth option in the middle.
Portland also has Donovan Clingan, Robert Williams III, Yang Hansen and Branden Carlson at center, but Williams has a lengthy injury history and Hansen and Carlson are relatively unproven at the NBA level. Potter could be competing with Carlson to make the final roster, though Carlson’s minimum-salary contract for 2026/27 is fully guaranteed, Hoops Rumors can confirm.
The Blazers have an unusual roster composition with six guards (Ja Morant, Jrue Holiday, Shaedon Sharpe, Scoot Henderson, Damian Lillard, Vit Krejci), a point forward (Deni Avdija), and a couple of rangy wing defenders who mostly play off the ball (Toumani Camara and Sidy Cissoko) to go along with their five centers. Of the 14 players currently on the standard roster, Potter, Krejci and Cissoko are on non-guaranteed deals.
While Potter is a skilled shooter and understands the game well, he’s not great at locking down the paint, having allowed opponents to shoot 68.3% at the rim in ’25/26. He’s also not particularly mobile defensively despite being a little undersized for a stretch five.
Still, it’s a low-risk flyer for Portland. Potter’s salary will remain non-guaranteed until the league-wide salary guarantee deadline in January, so if the Blazers need a little extra cap room or decide not to carry him on the regular season roster, he could still be waived without leaving any money on the team’s books.
Pacers Sign Kobe Brown To Two-Way Contract
3:24 pm: Brown has officially signed his two-way contract, the Pacers announced today in a press release.
1:33 pm: The Pacers have agreed to bring back free agent forward Kobe Brown on a two-way contract, reports Tony East of Forbes.
The 30th overall pick in the 2023 draft, Brown spent his first two-and-a-half NBA seasons with the Clippers before being traded to Indiana in the Ivica Zubac blockbuster at February’s trade deadline.
Although the 6’7″ forward never saw much playing time in Los Angeles, he was given a chance to earn rotation minutes down the stretch for an injury-plagued Pacers team. Brown took advantage of that opportunity, averaging 9.4 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 2.0 assists in 24.7 minutes per game across 27 appearances, with a .503/.433/.788 shooting line.
Because he was a former first-round pick who had his fourth-year rookie scale team option declined, the Pacers weren’t able to tender Brown a qualifying offer to make him a restricted free agent this offseason. However, that didn’t stop the two sides from coming to terms on a two-way deal that will make him eligible to appear in up to 50 NBA regular season games in 2026/27 and will pay him up to $678,882.
The Pacers carried over Taelon Peter and Ethan Thompson on two-year, two-way contracts from last season, so Brown will fill the third slot for the time being.
It’s worth noting though that Indiana still has a two-way qualifying offer on the table for Jalen Slawson and reportedly intends to sign second-round pick Braden Smith to a two-way deal too. The team doesn’t have to sort all that out immediately, but it certainly sounds as if there will be some players shuffled in and out of those two-way slots before the season begins.
Pacers Waive Micah Potter
4:09 pm: Potter has officially been cut, per NBA.com’s transaction log. He’ll clear waivers on Friday if he goes unclaimed.
4:01 pm: The Pacers intend to waive big man Micah Potter, reports Tony East of Circle City Spin (Twitter link). The move will create enough room below the team’s first-apron hard cap in order to sign Larry Nance Jr. to a minimum-salary deal.
Following stints with Detroit and Utah, Potter appeared in a career-high 47 games in 2025/26 in his fifth NBA season, emerging as a rotation player for an Indiana team hit hard by injuries. The 28-year-old averaged 9.7 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 1.5 assists in 19.3 minutes per contest, posting an excellent .515/.423/.842 shooting line.
The Pacers’ deal with the 6’9″ center included a $2.8MM team option for 2026/27, which the club exercised last week, but the terms of the agreement called for that salary to remain non-guaranteed even after the option was picked up. That means none of Potter’s salary will remain on Indiana’s books once he’s waived.
Given how admirably he handled his increased role last season, I could see the Pacers bringing back Potter on a new non-guaranteed, minimum-salary contract that would carry a more team-friendly cap hit ($2.45MM instead of $2.8MM). That’s just my speculation though, and unless the club is able to shed additional salary, it might need to be an Exhibit 10 contract rather than a standard deal, so that it doesn’t count for cap and apron purposes.
Of course, Potter would have to pass through waivers to become eligible to re-sign with the Pacers or to choose his next destination. Since he was on a minimum-salary contract, any team would have the ability to place a claim on him using the minimum salary exception.
Pacers Sign Larry Nance Jr.
July 9: The Pacers have put out a press release officially confirming that they’ve signed Nance.
July 8: The Pacers have reached an agreement to sign free agent forward/center Larry Nance Jr. to a one-year contract, sources tell Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).
While Charania refers to it as a $4MM deal, it sounds like that figure is rounded up — Tony East of Circle City Spin tweets that it’ll be a minimum-salary contract. Nance will earn roughly $3.88MM, while Indiana carries a cap hit of approximately $2.45MM.
Nance, 33, is an 11-year NBA veteran who has appeared in 581 total regular season games for five teams since entering the league as the 27th overall pick in 2015. A reliable frontcourt rotation player for most of those 11 seasons, Nance has been limited to just 59 appearances over his last two years in Atlanta and Cleveland due to health issues.
Nance dealt with hand and knee injuries in 2024/25, then missed nearly six weeks with a calf strain during the first half of the ’25/26 season. Even after he returned, the Ohio native played a limited role for the Cavaliers, establishing new career lows in points (3.7), rebounds (2.7), and minutes (12.8) per game, as well as field goal percentage (41.9%), across 35 outings.
The Pacers’ commitment to Nance suggests they believe he still has something left in the tank, though we’ll have to wait to see whether the team is giving him a fully guaranteed contract.
The club is technically too close to its first-apron hard cap to add another standard contract right now, notes Yossi Gozlan of The Third Apron (Twitter link), so a trade or cut would be necessary to bring Nance aboard unless he’s signing a non-guaranteed Exhibit 10 contract, which wouldn’t count against the cap or apron.
Center Micah Potter is currently on a non-guaranteed minimum-salary contract for 2026/27, while Quenton Jackson‘s minimum salary is only partially guaranteed for $275K for another week, so one of those two seems likely to be the odd man out if the Pacers do have to make a cut.
[UPDATE: Pacers to waive Micah Potter]
Eastern Notes: Hornets, White, Tatum, Carpenter, Bucks
The Hornets‘ trades sending longtime starters LaMelo Ball to Minnesota and Miles Bridges to Phoenix aren’t yet official, so president of basketball operations Jeff Peterson didn’t specifically address those moves when he spoke to Rod Boone of The Charlotte Observer on Tuesday about the team’s offseason.
However, asked in more general terms about the front office’s approach to the summer – which has involved revamping a roster that closed out the 2025/26 regular season on a 28-10 run – Peterson offered a message to fans in Charlotte who may be confused about the team’s direction.
“The goal has never been to get to the playoffs one time and be out for seven, eight years and try to get back,” he said, per Boone. “I think the roster that we have will give us the best chance moving forward. Again, I like all the pieces. We are going to continue to build it the right way.
“We are not going to take shortcuts. We are going to be methodical and figure out how to put the best product on the floor and fans to be happy and excited about. And at the same time, how can we continue that sustainability that we talk about?”
We have more from around the East:
- One of the Hornets‘ biggest offseason moves was re-signing guard Coby White, who said he “loved every minute” of playing for his hometown team after being traded from Chicago to Charlotte in February, Boone writes. White also expressed his enthusiasm about the club’s other offseason roster moves. “I think we’ve got a really, really, really, really great team,” White said. “We obviously got a lot of guys who can do a lot of different things and play a lot of different positions. So, I’m excited. I’m looking forward to getting on the court with these guys. I really like our roster. Continue to build and continue to build a culture of winning.”
- At an event promoting his new children’s book on Tuesday, Celtics forward Jayson Tatum spoke publicly for the first time about the trade that sent his longtime co-star Jaylen Brown to Philadelphia, according to Noa Dalzell of CelticsBlog. Tatum said the news made him “appreciate the moments and time” that he and Brown had together. “To be honest, weird. It’s weird,” the Celtics star said. “You play on a team with a guy for nine years. I was fortunate enough to go to the (NBA) Finals with him twice, and win a championship, and push each other to be the players that we are today.”
- Pacers assistant Johnny Carpenter, who had been on track to coach Indiana’s Summer League team in Las Vegas, has accepted a position with the Bucks as an assistant coach and head of player development, as Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star details. Bryce Taylor, the new head coach of Indiana’s G League affiliate (the Noblesville Boom), will take over as the Pacers’ Summer League head coach, Dopirak adds.