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Central Notes: Cunningham, Nesmith, Pacers, Bucks

December 8th, 2025 at 12:42pm CST by Dana Gauruder

It was only two seasons ago that the Pistons lost 28 games in a row and wound up with the league’s worst record. Many of the players from that squad now find themselves on the top team in the Eastern Conference.

Cade Cunningham said the team’s previous futility is a constant motivator.

“So many long car rides after the games and stuff, long nights thinking about what could’ve happened different, stuff like that,” Cunningham told The Detroit Free Press’ Omari Sankofa II (subscription required). “That stuff lives with you. I carry it on the court all the time. I know my teammates carry it. (Isaiah Stewart) has had a lot of experiences in this league that he carries with him every time he plays. I think we’re all better for it.

“It’s the small things that make it up, and we’ve been through the losing end of those things and now, every night, we’re just trying to find ways to come out on top,” he added. “It’s just the details and (it’s) still early. We’re not satisfied or content with where we’re at right now. We’re just trying to keep on stacking, see where it takes us.”

Entering Saturday’s game, each of Detroit’s previous seven matchups had been decided by six points or less. The Pistons were 4-3 during that stretch.

“It’s crazy this year,” Cunningham said. “The difference in those plays is so small, you know? A loose ball with a minute and a half left in the fourth quarter, this year we’re coming up with it. In the past we don’t come up with it. We lose those games. This year we had a game [against Orlando] where we gave up a few offensive rebounds at the end, we lose that game. It’s the little plays that make up the outcomes. I think we’re just getting better at finding those moments and taking advantage more.”

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Pacers wing Aaron Nesmith has been out since Nov. 13 with a left knee MCL sprain. He’s not close to coming back, according to Dustin Dopirak of the Indianapolis Star. “There’s no timetable,” coach Rick Carlisle said. “… It’s gonna be a while. Hopefully not too long. It would be great if he could be back playing some time this month. He’s making great progress with no setbacks. Time will tell, but I don’t have any set timetable for you.” Quenton Jackson, who has been out with a right hamstring strain since November 3, could return later this week. Second-round pick Kam Jones, sidelined since suffering a back injury in training camp, is ramping up his conditioning. Carlisle said Jones’ first games will most likely be with the Noblesville Boom, the Pacers’ G League affiliate.
Carlisle has been employing a center by committee approach with Jay Huff, Isaiah Jackson, and Tony Bradley sharing minutes. The Pacers were forced to improvise when Myles Turner left in free agency, and Carlisle has been pleased with the results in recent games. “A lot of progress,” he told Dopirak. “Doesn’t matter who starts. It’s a tag-team thing, it’s a brotherhood thing. Those guys’ job is to hold down the fort. Tony is included in that too. It’s important that the spirit is we just find a way to get it done.”
Bucks coach Doc Rivers gave his team two days off after playing back-to-back games on Friday and Saturday. His banged-up squad will have two big practice days on Tuesday and Wednesday before Thursday’s game against the Celtics, according to The Athletic’s Eric Nehm. “I think it’s a very pivotal time for us,” forward Kyle Kuzma said. “It’s sink or swim. We have to treat it like that.”

Central Notes: White, Jackson, Allen, Hunter

October 9th, 2025 at 8:15pm CST by Earnest Marshall

Coby White has added motivation to return swiftly from a calf strain that’s plagued him ahead of the 2025/26 season, Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times writes. White is on track to be an unrestricted free agent next summer and will be looking to build on the best two years of his career.

According to Cowley, early indications are that both the Bulls and White are interested in getting a deal done next summer. Both sides are expected to proceed with caution when it comes to his return from his calf injury.

With White sidelined in Chicago’s preseason opener on Tuesday, Kevin Huerter took the bulk of his minutes and started in his stead. If White is to miss any regular season time, Huerter would be the prime candidate to assume a larger role.

We have more from the Central Division:

After missing all but five games last season due to an Achilles injury, Pacers center Isaiah Jackson seems to have the inside track to the starting center role, according to Dustin Dopirak of IndyStar, who details the big man’s recovery and conditioning process. “I can use my weight,” Jackson said. “I was always physical but I couldn’t move guys how I wanted to. I couldn’t play my brand of basketball. I’d get up to the offensive rim and I’d have to go straight up. Now I can bump people and move people out the way and I don’t really affected by it. Strength wise, I can play defense a little better. I can hold my own.“
The tandem of Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley has proven to be effective, but Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated speculates that Allen could be a name to watch at the deadline depending on how the Cavaliers open the season. According to Mannix, most evaluators view Mobley as a long-term center, so there’s a sense that the team could be open to moving Allen at some point for the right return.
De’Andre Hunter had his most successful NBA season in 2024/25 across stints with the Hawks and Cavaliers, averaging a career-high 17.0 points per game and finishing fourth in Sixth Player of the Year voting. He looks poised to carry over that momentum this fall and take another step forward, having recorded 17 points and seven rebounds in Cleveland’s preseason opener. In a subscriber-only piece, Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com examines why Hunter’s teammates are expecting a “huge year” from the forward and why head coach Kenny Atkinson has referred to him as the club’s “offseason MVP.”

Pacers Notes: Nembhard, Siakam, Mathurin, Centers

September 30th, 2025 at 2:33pm CST by Luke Adams

After starting alongside Pacers point guard Tyrese Haliburton for most of his first three NBA seasons, Andrew Nembhard is preparing to take on a more significant on-ball role in 2025/26 as Haliburton spends the year recovering from the Achilles tear he suffered in June.

“It changes my whole perception of the game,” Nembhard said on Monday, per Joshua Heron of The Indianapolis Star. “Bringing the ball up is a whole new way of looking at the game instead of running off the ball.”

While Haliburton has been Indiana’s offensive engine and lead play-maker since joining the Pacers in 2022, it won’t simply be a matter of plugging in Nembhard as the new point guard and making Pascal Siakam the primary scoring option, according to Siakam, who suggested that replacing Haliburton will be a group effort.

“I think for us, last year and the way we play, it’s always been about team,” the star forward said, according to Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star. “It’s never been about one person. I think this year it’s not gonna be different. We all are gonna have to do it collectively. I was telling the guys, it’s not going to take one person to replace Ty. We’re gonna all have to do it collectively. That’s the way we have to think about it.”

Siakam is aware that he’ll be one of the players who is asked to take on more ball-handling and play-making responsibilities without Haliburton available. That’s not a problem for the 31-year-old, who got accustomed to operating on the ball and initiating the offense during his time in Toronto.

“I’ve done that in the past,” Siakam said. “I think just watching my last two years you don’t really see some of the other things I’ve done before. I feel like one of the funniest questions coach asked me was, ‘Oh, have you had a triple-double before?’ It was like, “Well yeah, I’ve had multiple.’ I can do that too. I feel like what makes me different is that I can adapt to every situation and I’ve worked on every facet of my game.”

We have more out of Indiana:

It’s an important fall for Bennedict Mathurin, who is eligible for a rookie scale extension and is on track to join Nembhard in Indiana’s starting backcourt. The fourth-year wing said at media day on Monday that making “better reads and smarter decisions” will be a key to success for him, according to Dopirak. Head coach Rick Carlisle agreed. “We just need him to run hard, shoot open shots that are there and make simple reads offensively. Our game is played best when it’s fast and simple,” Carlisle said, adding that Mathurin will likely see greater defensive challenges too. “… There’s a very good chance he’ll be asked to guard the ball on a lot of situations.”
Four spots in the Pacers’ starting lineup look set, as Aaron Nesmith will likely join Nembhard, Mathurin, and Siakam in that group. That leaves the center spot up for grabs, with Isaiah Jackson and Jay Huff considered the leading candidates and James Wiseman and Tony Bradley also in the mix. “We have four guys that really are very, very good,” Carlisle said, per Dopirak. “They all bring something different. A lot of this, we just gotta play it out in training camp and the preseason games and see what’s what. I don’t have any preconceived notions as to who’s going to start.” Carlisle acknowledged that Jackson has been working with the starting group in pickup games, but praised the other three centers on the roster and noted that Huff’s ability to shoot and protect the rim will be an “important ingredient” for the club.
In a separate story for The Indy Star, Dopirak passed along notable media day quotes from several other Pacers players, including T.J. McConnell, who knows that he and a few of his teammates will have to step up as leaders with Haliburton out and James Johnson no longer on the team. “I’ve never been a guy to use my voice too much,” McConnell said. “… James and Tyrese were those constant voices. Not only myself, but others have to step up and have more of a voice, not just when they see something.”

Pacers Notes: Huff, Wiseman, Oladipo, Johnson, Haliburton

July 25th, 2025 at 12:58pm CST by Luke Adams

After losing longtime starting center Myles Turner to the division-rival Bucks, the Pacers will take a “by committee” approach to the position in 2025/26, general manager Chad Buchanan confirmed during an appearance on the Setting The Pace podcast (YouTube link).

The team re-signed Isaiah Jackson and James Wiseman earlier this month and made a trade with Memphis to acquire Jay Huff. Veteran journeyman Tony Bradley is also in the mix, though his contract is fully non-guaranteed, so if Jackson and Wiseman are fully recovered from Achilles tears, there may not be room for him on the regular season roster.

Discussing the team’s deal for Huff, Buchanan pointed out that the big man had a huge game against the Pacers’ G League team in the playoffs a couple years ago and added that Indiana’s analytics department had its eye on the 27-year-old for a while.

“Watching him in Memphis this year when he got his opportunity, he really shined,” Buchanan said (hat tip to Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star). “He had moments of running the floor, finishing lobs, shooting threes, protecting the rim. He’s not a perfect player by any means — he’s got areas that he needs to be better at and improve at. But we felt like what we were losing in Myles and what Jay provided at the age he was at, his basketball IQ, his feel of the game were really good fits for the way we play.”

Buchanan also spoke highly of Jackson and Wiseman, suggesting that Jackson’s skill set will give the Pacers’ lineup a different look and stating that the team remains just as bullish on Wiseman as it was when it first signed him a year ago.

“He’s in a great spot physically,” Buchanan said of the former No. 2 overall pick. “He still has to go through the hurdles of playing in a 5-on-5 game and things like that, but we’re very encouraged with where his recovery is going.”

Here’s more on the Pacers:

Buchanan confirmed on the Setting The Pace podcast that Indiana was among the teams that attended Victor Oladipo‘s workout in Las Vegas (YouTube link). However, he didn’t suggest that a reunion with the former Pacers All-Star is forthcoming . “Obviously, we have a history with Victor,” the Pacers’ GM said (hat tip to Dopirak). “We’re always going to be looking for, if it’s the right player at the right time that fits us, we’re going to have to consider it whether it’s Victor or not. Many teams watched along with us. We get tied to him because he’s a former player of ours. I don’t think we’re any different than any other team that watched him out there.”
Veteran forward James Johnson, who has been with the Pacers for parts of the last three seasons, hopes to continue his playing career, according to Buchanan, though it’s unclear whether Indiana will have room on its roster for him (YouTube link). “Tyrese (Haliburton)’s injury creates a butterfly effect with what we have to plan on and how the roster fits together,” Buchanan said (hat tip to Dopirak). “Right now, it could be challenging to find a spot for James, as much as we want him back.” The GM did acknowledge “that could change,” and it’s worth noting that Johnson didn’t start the 2023/24 season on the Pacers’ roster but was eventually added, first on a non-guaranteed contract, then on 10-day deals, then on a rest-of-season agreement.
Appearing on The Pat McAfee Show (YouTube link) this week, Haliburton said that he has been in touch with both Jayson Tatum and Kevin Durant to discuss the recovery process from a torn Achilles. Souichi Terada of MassLive.com has the details

Pacers Notes: Nembhard, Mathurin, Turner, Jackson, More

July 17th, 2025 at 10:26pm CST by Luke Adams

With Tyrese Haliburton sidelined for the entire 2025/26 season as he recovers from a torn Achilles, the Pacers‘ offense is expected to look significantly different in the fall and likely won’t be nearly as “high-octane,” according to Jamal Collier of ESPN.

Indiana ranked second in both offensive rating and pace during the 2023/24 regular season and was a top-10 team in both categories again in ’24/25, despite getting off to a slow start last fall. The Pacers also played at the fastest pace of any Eastern Conference team during the 2025 playoffs en route to their first NBA Finals appearance since 2000.

As Collier observes, Andrew Nembhard – who figures to take over as the team’s starting point guard in 2025/26 – doesn’t have the same burst as Haliburton, so the Pacers figure to lean more into his strengths, including his decision-making in half-court sets.

According to Collier, several executives around the league believe that fourth-year wing Bennedict Mathurin is in line for an increased offensive role with Haliburton on the shelf and Myles Turner no longer on the roster. Mathurin, a 2022 lottery pick, has averaged 15.9 points in 28.3 minutes per game during his first three years in the NBA. He’s eligible for a rookie scale extension this offseason.

Here’s more on the Pacers:

Confirming remarks made by president of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard, Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle said during an appearance on The Green Light with Chris Long podcast (YouTube link) that the club didn’t have the opportunity to match the contract offer Turner got from Milwaukee before he agreed to sign with the Bucks. “We were talking to them – ‘them’ meaning his agent – about him returning,” Carlisle said (hat tip to HoopsHype). “And really, kind of out of nowhere, Milwaukee decided to waive Damian Lillard and stretch his contract…and then they created space to sign Myles. I think what probably happened—and this is part of negotiation in any sport—a team will say: ‘Hey, look, we have this offer. It’s this much over this many years, but if we make this offer, we need to know that you’re going to take it and not shop it.’ And so, I believe that’s probably what happened with Milwaukee. It was a number. It was a certain number of years. And they just jumped at it, and there was never a chance to counter. So—those things happen. And when they do, you just have to keep going.”
While Isaiah Jackson‘s new three-year, $21MM contract with the Pacers is guaranteed for now, it includes injury protections in years two and three in the event that the big man suffers another major Achilles injury that prevents him from reaching games-played benchmarks, tweets Michael Scotto of HoopsHype. Jackson missed nearly the entire 2024/25 season while recovering from an Achilles tear he sustained in early November.
Pascal Siakam tops the list of the Pacers’ most important players for the 2025/26 season with Haliburton out and Turner gone, writes Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star (subscription required). Nembhard, Mathurin, Aaron Nesmith, and Jay Huff round out Dopirak’s top five, in that order.
In a separate story for The Indianapolis Star, Dopirak shares his takeaways from the Pacers’ fourth Las Vegas Summer League game on Thursday, including forward Enrique Freeman continuing to make a strong case for a two-way slot in Indiana. Freeman racked up 18 points on 7-of-9 shooting, along with 10 rebounds and four assists, in Thursday’s win over New York.

Contract Details: Aldama, Jerome, Spencer, Booker, Jackson, Broome

July 16th, 2025 at 11:52am CST by Luke Adams

The three-year, $52.5MM contract that restricted free agent Santi Aldama signed with the Grizzlies includes a third-year team option, tweets Michael Scotto of HoopsHype. The deal is front-loaded, with an $18.49MM salary in year one before it dips to $17MM in year two. The team option for 2027/28 is also worth $17MM.

Meanwhile, the three-year, $27.66MM deal that Ty Jerome finalized with the Grizzlies is worth the full room exception, as expected. Jerome’s contract – which includes a third-year player option, as previously reported – also features a 15% trade kicker, notes Scotto (Twitter link).

Finally, Cam Spencer‘s new four-year contract with Memphis is worth roughly $10.4MM in total. The team used cap room to give Spencer a salary of $2,537,989 in year one, with minimum salaries for the remaining three years of the deal, Hoops Rumors has confirmed. As previously reported, the first three seasons are fully guaranteed, with a fourth-year team option for 2028/29.

Here are a few more details on some of the recently signed contracts from around the NBA:

Devin Booker‘s new two-year, maximum-salary extension with the Suns only features one fully guaranteed year. The second season is a player option for the 2029/30 season, tweets Scotto.
Isaiah Jackson‘s three-year, $21MM contract with the Pacers is front-loaded, Hoops Rumors has learned. Jackson will earn $7.6MM in 2025/26, followed by salaries of $7MM in ’26/27 and $6.4MM in ’27/28.
Johni Broome‘s four-year contract with the Sixers, previously said to be guaranteed for two seasons, is worth $8.69MM, Hoops Rumors has confirmed. That means Broome will be earning his minimum salary in each year of the deal, starting with a cap hit of $1,272,870 in year one.

Pacers Re-Sign Isaiah Jackson To Three-Year Deal

July 11th, 2025 at 3:59pm CST by Luke Adams

3:59 pm: Jackson has officially re-signed with the Pacers, the team announced today in a press release.

2:59 pm: The Pacers and restricted free agent center Isaiah Jackson have reached an agreement on a new three-year contract worth $21MM, agents Drew Morrison and Sam Rose tell Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).

The 22nd overall pick in the 2021 draft, Jackson played a modest role through his first four seasons in Indiana, averaging 7.2 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks in 15.0 minutes per game across 163 appearances (31 starts). He missed nearly the entire 2024/25 season due to a right Achilles tear that he suffered in the sixth game of the season.

James Wiseman, who sustained a torn Achilles of his own in the Pacers’ regular season opener last October, appeared to have moved ahead of Jackson on the center depth chart entering the season. Given that context and the fact that Jackson is now coming off a major injury, it was somewhat surprising that the 23-year-old received a $6.4MM qualifying offer from Indiana last month to make him a restricted free agent.

That qualifying offer and this new three-year agreement are strong signals that the Pacers still believe in Jackson’s potential and feel good about where he’s at in his recovery from Achilles surgery.

The QO also makes more sense in retrospect knowing that Myles Turner‘s return to Indiana wasn’t the virtual lock that it seemed to be entering the free agent period. With Turner now in Milwaukee, Jackson will have an opportunity this fall to compete for minutes at center with Jay Huff, Tony Bradley, and Wiseman, who has returned to the Pacers on a new deal of his own.

Jackson’s new deal will give the Pacers 15 players on standard contracts for 2025/26, though Wiseman only has a partial guarantee and Bradley’s 2025/26 salary is non-guaranteed, so it’s possible those two big men will be battling for a single roster spot.

Free Agent Rumors: Guards, Kuminga, Pacers, Hayes

July 7th, 2025 at 1:20pm CST by Luke Adams

An expectation that Bradley Beal will soon become an unrestricted free agent is affecting the markets for free agent guards Chris Paul, Russell Westbrook, and Malcolm Brogdon, who are drawing interest from many of the same teams, writes Jake Fischer of The Stein Line (Substack link).

According to Fischer, the Clippers, Lakers, Bucks, and Timberwolves are among the teams expected to have interest in signing Beal if and when he finalizes a buyout agreement with the Suns, which seems increasingly likely. A previous report also identified the Warriors as a possible suitor for Beal, with the Heat viewed as less likely after their trade for Norman Powell.

The Clippers and Bucks are known to have interest in Paul, Fischer points out, so if Beal ends up with one of those teams, it would likely rule that club out for CP3, perhaps increasing the odds of the 40-year-old reuniting with the Suns.

As for Brogdon, he has the Clippers, Suns, Lakers, Warriors, Timberwolves, and Bucks are also among the teams that have registered some level of interest in him, along with the Pelicans and Kings, Fischer reports.

Free agents like De’Anthony Melton and Ben Simmons may also find themselves involved in this game of backcourt musical chairs, according to Fischer, who suggests that their potential landing spots should become more clearer once one or two of those top guards – starting with Beal – finds a new home.

Here are a few more notes on free agents from around the NBA:

There was no traction on the Jonathan Kuminga front over the weekend, sources tell Anthony Slater of The Athletic (Twitter link). According to Slater, the Kings have been the most aggressive suitor for the Warriors restricted free agent so far, but nothing has come close. In fact, the market for all of the top restricted free agents remains “ice cold,” Slater adds.
The Pacers are expected to reunite with a pair of familiar faces to fill out their frontcourt. Speaking to reporters today, president of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard said the club is planning to re-sign James Wiseman and that things are trending in the right direction with restricted free agent Isaiah Jackson (Twitter links via Tony East).
Veteran center Jaxson Hayes gave up his right to veto a trade this season when he re-signed with the Lakers, reports Dan Woike of The Athletic (Twitter link). By default, a player re-signing with his previous team on a one-year contract gets a de facto no-trade clause, but a team can ask a player to waive that right as part of his new deal.

Pacers Issue QOs To I. Jackson, Q. Jackson, Freeman

June 29th, 2025 at 4:38pm CST by Rory Maher

The Pacers have tendered qualifying offers to Isaiah Jackson, Quenton Jackson and Enrique Freeman, making all three players restricted free agents, a league source tells Tony East of Forbes (Twitter link).

Isaiah Jackson was a semi-regular rotation player for Indiana over the course of his first three NBA seasons after being selected No. 22 overall in the 2021 draft. Unfortunately, the 23-year-old center sustained a torn Achilles tendon in the Pacers’ sixth game of 2024/25 and missed the rest of the season, including the team’s run to the NBA Finals.

The decision to give Isaiah Jackson a qualifying offer is an interesting one. The Pacers are clearly confident that he’s recovering well after the major injury, but the amount of the QO — $6,422,432 — isn’t insignificant, especially with Indiana trying to re-sign starting center Myles Turner in free agency.

Perhaps the Pacers have an idea of what it will take to bring back Jackson on a team-friendly multiyear deal and issued the qualifying offer as a precaution so he remains restricted. But he could also choose to accept the QO — essentially a guaranteed one-year contract — and become an unrestricted free agent in 2026. Either scenario would push Indiana closer to the luxury tax in 2025/26, which ownership has historically been reluctant to avoid.

As for Quenton Jackson, the former undrafted free agent averaged 5.8 PPG, 1.9 APG and 1.6 RPG on .475/.375/.775 shooting in 28 games (13.6 MPG) last season while on a two-way contract with Indiana. The third-year guard’s QO is a one-year deal for his minimum-salary ($2,378,870) and has a small partial guarantee ($102K).

Freeman, meanwhile, was a rookie last season after being selected 50th overall in 2024 out of Akron. The 6’8″ forward made 22 appearances with the Pacers, averaging 2.1 PPG and 1.4 RPG in 8.2 MPG. His QO is for another two-way deal and also features a modest partial guarantee ($85K) that won’t impact Indiana’s salary cap situation.

And-Ones: Award Races, Summer Flight Risks, BRI, RFAs

March 27th, 2025 at 7:28am CST by Luke Adams

As we relayed on Wednesday, Warriors forward Draymond Green took over this week as the new betting favorite for Defensive Player of the Year honors, surpassing Cavaliers big man Evan Mobley.

Mobley’s teammates and head coach disagree that Green should be considered the frontrunner and Zach Harper of The Athletic sides with the Cavs’ contingent, placing Mobley ahead of Green (and Hawks guard Dyson Daniels) on his hypothetical ballot in his latest look at this season’s award races.

With just over two weeks left in the 2024/25 season, Harper currently has Shai Gilgeous-Alexander ahead of Nikola Jokic in the MVP race, Stephon Castle ahead of Jaylen Wells for Rookie of the Year, Payton Pritchard ahead of Malik Beasley for Sixth Man of the Year, Kenny Atkinson over J.B. Bickerstaff for Coach of the Year, and Cade Cunningham over Mobley for Most Improved Player.

Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report runs through all 30 NBA teams and predicts their most likely flight risk in 2025 free agency. In some cases – like Seth Curry in Charlotte or Dalano Banton in Portland – the player in question has a relatively modest role, but others – such as Ty Jerome in Cleveland or Russell Westbrook in Denver – have been important contributors. Of course, a handful of clubs have stars or high-level starters to worry about, including Indiana with Myles Turner and the Clippers with James Harden.
In a free article for his Substack, Pincus shares some highlights from the NBA’s recent memo to teams, including the fact that players – who have 10% of their salaries put into escrow each season – are only on track to get a very small percentage of that money back in order to balance the basketball-related income split between players and teams. In other words, Pincus writes, a player with a $10MM cap hit for 2024/25, is only projected to actually earn about $9.1MM.
What sort of contracts will this season’s restricted free agents sign? Keith Smith of Spotrac digs into that question, making predictions ranging from nine-figure deals for Bulls guard Josh Giddey, Warriors forward Jonathan Kuminga, and Sixers wing Quentin Grimes to minimum-salary contracts (and no qualifying offers) for players like Pacers center Isaiah Jackson and Nets wing Ziaire Williams.