- Alex Poythress isn’t discouraged about his NBA dream despite being bypassed on draft night, writes Scott Agness of Vigilant Sports. The 6’7″ forward, who spent four years at Kentucky, recently signed a partially guaranteed deal with the Pacers and is believed to be ticketed for the D-League. Poythress has been working out in Indianapolis for the past few weeks. “Things are going good,” he said. “Going through the draft process, [the Pacers] really liked me. I’m just trying to make best of this opportunity.”
Kevin Seraphin continues to look for a new NBA home, and is reportedly working out for the Pacers, per Yann Ohnona of L’Equipe, via Twitter (hat tip to HoopsHype). Although Seraphin hasn’t officially confirmed the report, he published an Instagram photo of himself in Indianapolis this afternoon.
We heard last week that Seraphin has been rebuffing contract offers from overseas in the hopes of getting an opportunity with an NBA team. The veteran big man has reportedly received interest from teams in the Chinese Basketball Association, as well as Euroleague clubs, including FC Barcelona.
A former 17th overall pick, Seraphin spent five seasons with the Wizards before playing for the Knicks last season. For his career, he has appeared in 374 regular-season contests, averaging 6.1 PPG and 3.5 RPG to go along with a .483 FG%.
Indiana bolstered its frontcourt this offseason by signing Al Jefferson as a free agent, but the team doesn’t have a ton of depth at center. The Pacers may have interest in Seraphin as a player who could provide some value off the bench on the defensive side of the floor, and as a rebounder.
The Pacers have announced a pair of signings, revealing today in press release that they’ve added veteran guard Julyan Stone to their roster. The club also confirmed and formalized the previously-reported signing of undrafted free agent Alex Poythress.
Stone, 27, entered the NBA in 2012, and ultimately appeared in 47 total games over the course of three seasons for the Nuggets and Raptors. He didn’t see much action in those games, averaging just 1.3 PPG and 1.1 APG in 7.0 minutes per contest. Stone was in camp with the Thunder last fall, but was cut and signed with Gaziantep in Turkey — he averaged 4.4 PPG, 4.7 RPG, and 1.8 APG in 25 games for the Turkish club.
As for Poythress, he missed the bulk of the 2014/15 campaign due to a torn left ACL. Returning to Kentucky as a senior, the forward made 31 appearances and averaged 10.2 points, 6.0 rebounds and 0.6 steals in 23.6 minutes per contest. Poythress’ shooting line for the Wildcats was .601/.304/.706.
[RELATED: Indiana Pacers’ depth chart at RosterResource.com]
The Pacers already have 15 guaranteed contracts on their roster, so Stone and Poythress aren’t great bets to survive preseason cuts unless Indiana has injury problems heading into the season. Poythress could end up playing for the Pacers’ D-League affiliate in Fort Wayne, while Stone would be a candidate to head back overseas.
Eddie Scarito contributed to this post.
- The Mavericks paid $3.2MM to the Pacers in last month’s Jeremy Evans trade, according to Pincus (Twitter link). Dallas had to dump Evans’ guaranteed $1,227,286 salary to create cap room for new, incoming players, and Indiana made a profit by agreeing to take him. Teams can send out a maximum of $3.5MM in trades during a league year, so Dallas used nearly all its trade cash in that move.
Having Nate McMillan as his head coach should accelerate the development of Pacers big man Myles Turner, states Ric Bucher of Bleacher Report. In a video interview, Bucher names Turner as one of the NBA’s young players to watch for next season, and part of the reason is the addition of McMillan, who was hired in May to replace Frank Vogel. Bucher notes that Turner has many qualities similar to LaMarcus Aldridge, whom McMillan helped to develop into an All-Star as head coach of the Trail Blazers nearly a decade ago. Bucher believes Turner will also benefit from an upgrade at point guard, where Jeff Teague was picked up in a trade with the Hawks to replace George Hill. The 20-year-old Turner averaged 10.3 points and 5.5 rebounds in 60 games last season.
There’s more news out of Indiana:
- After an offseason spent acquiring offense, the Pacers must prove they can be successful with their new approach, writes Lang Greene of Basketball Insiders. For about 20 years, Indiana has been a physical, defensive-minded team that won with hard-working overachievers, Greene notes. But team president Larry Bird decided he wanted to build a better offense, which is why Vogel was let go. Bird followed up that move by dealing for Teague and power forward Thaddeus Young, then signing center Al Jefferson to a three-year, $30MM deal in free agency. Teamed with Paul George and Monta Ellis, the Pacers can now put scorers on the floor at every position.
- The Pacers have named José Luis Galilea as their new overseas talent evaluator, according to Scott Agness of Vigilant Sports. He replaces Pete Philo, who left the organization in May. Indiana now has eight full-time scouts and 11 overall.
With the free agent signing period winding down and teams looking ahead to the preseason, we at Hoops Rumors will be tracking the Salary Cap figures for each team around the league. These posts will be maintained throughout the season once financial data is reported. They will be located on the sidebar throughout the year, once all the teams’ cap figures have been relayed. You can always check RosterResource.com for up-to-date rosters for each franchise, with the Pacers’ team page accessible here.
Here’s a breakdown of where the Pacers currently stand financially:
Guaranteed Salary
- Paul George — $18,314,532
- Thaddeus Young — $14,153,652
- Monta Ellis — $10,763,500
- Al Jefferson — $10,230,179
- Jeff Teague — $8,000,000
- Rodney Stuckey — $7,000,000 [Waived by team]
- C.J. Miles — $4,583,450
- Lavoy Allen — $4,000,000
- Lance Stephenson — $4,000,000
- Aaron Brooks — $2,700,000
- Myles Turner — $2,463,840
- Kevin Seraphin — $1,800,000
- Jeremy Evans — $1,227,286 [Waived by team]
- Rakeem Christmas — $1,052,342
- Joseph Young — $1,052,342
- Glenn Robinson III — $1,050,500
- Georges Niang — $650,000
- Ben Bentil — $50,000 [Waived by team]
- Julyan Stone — $50,000 [Waived by team]
- Alex Poythress — $35,381 [Waived by team]
- Nick Zeisloft — $25,000 [Waived by team]
Total Guaranteed Salary= $94,002,004
Cash Sent Out Via Trade: $0 [Amount Remaining $3.5MM]
Cash Received Via Trade: Received $3,227,286 from Mavericks as part of Jeremy Evans trade [Amount Remaining $272,714]
Payroll Exceptions Available
- Room Exception: $2,898,000
Total Projected Payroll: $94,002,004
Salary Cap: $94,143,000
Estimated Available Cap Space: $140,996
Luxury Tax Threshold: $113,287,000
Amount Below Luxury Tax: $19,284,996
Last Updated: 4/6/17
The Basketball Insiders salary pages and The Vertical’s salary database were used in the creation of this post.
The Pacers have agreed to a deal with undrafted free agent Alex Poythress, Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical reports. The exact length and terms of the arrangement are unknown, but the scribe does note that the pact includes a partial guarantee. The 22-year-old will likely be ticketed to spend the 2016/17 campaign in the NBA D-League with Indiana’s affiliate in Fort Wayne, Wojnarowski notes.
Poythress had missed the bulk of the 2014/15 campaign due to a torn left ACL. Returning to Kentucky as a senior, Poythress made 31 appearances and averaged 10.2 points, 6.0 rebounds and 0.6 steals in 23.6 minutes per contest. His shooting line for the Wildcats was .601/.304/.706.
The forward appeared in five contests for the Magic’s summer league squad in Orlando, averaging 5.0 points, 1.4 rebounds and 0.8 steals in 10.6 minutes per outing.
- Paul George tells Sean Highkin of ProBasketballTalk that he’s excited about the Pacers‘ new direction, including the addition of veteran point guard Jeff Teague. “[Pacers president] Larry [Bird] has put it on display that he wants to get us back to the Eastern Conference [playoffs], see where we can take it from there,” George said.
Former Pacers big man Shayne Whittington didn’t take long to find a new home. After being cut by Indiana in late July, Whittington will head overseas for the coming season, having signed a contract with Spanish club Obradoiro CAB. The ex-Pacer himself confirmed the deal in a post on Instagram.
“Really excited to announce that I’ll be starting a new chapter in my life in Santiago De Compostela, Spain with Obradoiro CAB,” Whittington wrote. “Great league and a great opportunity for me and my family!”
Whittington, 25, spent parts of the last two seasons with the Pacers, going back forth between Indiana and Fort Wayne, where the team’s D-League affiliate plays. During that time, the Western Michigan alum has appeared in 27 total NBA games, averaging a modest 2.5 PPG and 1.5 RPG in 5.5 minutes per contest.
Indiana would have had to guarantee Whittington’s $980,431 salary for 2016/17 if he had remained on the team’s roster past August 1. By waiving him before then, the Pacers ensured that they were no longer on the hook for his cap hit.
Perry Jones III has agreed to play in Russia this upcoming season with Khimki Moscow, international journalist David Pick reports (Twitter link). Jones spent last season with the Iowa Energy of the D-League after being waived by the Boston Celtics. He was selected by the Thunder with the 28th overall pick in the 2012 draft.
Here’s more from around the league:
- Dwight Buycks will play in China for Fujian Quanzhou, Pick reports in a separate tweet. Buycks played for the team last season before coming stateside to join the Oklahoma City Blue of the D-League.
- Lance Stephenson may have to look overseas if he wants to play next season, Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe writes. Washburn contends that Stephenson has the talent to play in the NBA, however, his personality may be scaring teams away.
- Stephenson made a bet on himself back in 2014 when he bypassed a five-year, $44MM deal from the Pacers in favor of a shorter deal with the Hornets. Moke Hamilton of Basketball Insiders revisits the shooting guard’s decision and examines the decisions of other players whom have taken shorter deals with the hope of cashing in on a big payday only to be disappointed by what the market offers.