The Indiana Pacers today re-assigned rookie guard Orlando Johnson to the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, the Pacers’ NBA Development League affiliate. The assignment is the record 81st of the 2012-13 NBA and NBA D-League seasons, and is the second for Johnson this year. He is one of 43 NBA players who’ve been assigned to the NBA D-League this season.
Johnson (6-5, 220, UC-Santa Barbara) has played nine minutes in three games for Indiana this season. In his previous two-game assignment with Fort Wayne, Johnson averaged 22.5 points, 7.5 rebounds and 3.0 steals.
Selected in the second round (36th overall) of the 2012 NBA Draft by the Sacramento Kings, Johnson was acquired by the Pacers via trade on June 28, 2012. In just three seasons at UC-Santa Barbara, Johnson became the Gauchos all-time leading scorer (1,825 points), and is the only player in school history to have scored 500 or more points in a season three times. His 674 points as a junior and 39 points in a game vs. Cal-Davis are also school records
Johnson is expected to join the Mad Ants today and be available when the team hosts the Texas Legends on Friday, Dec. 28.
