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The Indiana Pacers waived forward Ben Moore today.
Also today, the team recalled center Ike Anigbogu from the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, their affiliate in the NBA G League.
Moore appeared in two games for the Pacers this regular season, but barely — playing just 4.5 minutes per outing.
The Pacers are 6-3 so far this season through Friday’s games and are being led in scoring by Victor Oladipo at 22.3 ppg.
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The Indiana Pacers announced Friday that Tyreke Evans will miss Saturday night’s game at Cleveland due to a violation of team rules.
“I was late for practice,” said Evans. “This is the most professional and team-oriented organization I have been with in my career. They deserve my best every day and I am disappointed in myself for causing a distraction that prevents me from being able to help my team tomorrow. I will do better.”
The Indiana Pacers have signed Davon Reed to a two-way contract.
Also, the team has waived C.J. Wilcox.
Reed, a 6-5, 208-pound guard, played 21 games for the Phoenix Suns during the 2017-18 season. In those 21 games he averaged 3.0 points and 1.9 rebounds per game. Reed also spent time with the Suns G League affiliate, the Northern Arizona Suns, during the 2017-18 season. In his 12 games in the G League, he averaged 10.3 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game.
Reed played collegiately at the University of Miami and was drafted by the Phoenix Suns in the second round (32nd overall pick) of the 2017 NBA Draft.
The Indiana Pacers have signed forward/center Myles Turner to a multi-year contract extension.
According to the Indianapolis Star, the extension is “a four-year deal that could be worth as much as $80 million… League sources told IndyStar that $72 million is guaranteed with the rest in incentives.”
The 6-11, 250-pound Turner is in his fourth NBA season and has the longest tenure with the Pacers of all the players on this season’s roster. His 1.82 blocks per game in 2017-18 ranked third in the NBA for the second consecutive season (2.12 per game in 2016-17). Turner was the Pacers’ No. 1 draft pick (11th overall) in the 2015 draft.
“I’d like to thank the Simon family and the Pacers organization for giving me this opportunity,” said Myles Turner. “It took a lot of hard work to get here and I didn’t do it on my own; I’d like to thank my family, as well as my teammates, past and present, and the coaching staff for helping me get to this point. I’m excited to build here in Indiana and I’m looking forward to the future.”
“Myles has been great here, not only on the court; but he represents this organization unbelievably off the court as well,” said Pacers President of Basketball Operations Kevin Pritchard. “His hard work and dedication to both his game and to our franchise exemplify what it means to be a Pacer. We’re thrilled to have him here long term.”
More from the Star: “Beyond this season, the Pacers will have Turner, Domantas Sabonis, Victor Oladipo, Aaron Holiday, Doug McDermott and T.J. Leaf under contract for 2019-20. Second-round picks Alize Johnson and Ike Anigbogu have contracts but they’re currently non-guaranteed.”
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The Indiana Pacers on Thursday waived guard Elijah Stewart and forward Omari Johnson.
NBA preseason wraps up tonight (Friday), and teams around the league need to trim their rosters down to a maximum of 15 regular season contracts plus two “two-way” players who will spend most of the season playing in the G League.
The Pacers finished preseason with a 2-2 record.
Preseason is a time to get loose. Here’s the Indianapolis Star reporting on the Pacers, who clearly don’t want their starters to overexert themselves as the season approaches:
The Indiana Pacers rested their projected starting unit in Saturday’s preseason game against the Memphis Grizzlies, which gave free agent addition Tyreke Evans a chance to demonstrate his skills in a 109-104 overtime loss.
“He’s trying to work out some kinks,” coach Nate McMillan said of Evans, who didn’t play in the 110-100 win over Houston in the preseason opener due to a sprained ankle. “He missed the first game and we wanted to give him some minutes tonight. It’s obvious that his conditioning is not there so he has to continue to work himself into shape.”
Evans had 12 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists against the Grizzlies, who were playing on the second night of a back-to-back. Evans was also returning to Memphis after playing there last season and he spent his only college season at the University of Memphis.
The Pacers are one of the East team’s i’ll be keeping an eye on this season, as they have a chance to keep rising above what many non-Indiana fans would expect.
Here’s the Indianapolis Star reporting on the Pacers, who are open to adding another player this season, and not just somebody brought in only to be said goodbye to once training camp wraps up:
Training camp doesn’t start until Tuesday but the Pacers already find themselves with an unexpected open roster spot after C.J. Wilcox went down with an Achilles tear during a workout at the team’s facility.
Wilcox, a 6-5 shooting guard taken in the first round by the L.A. Clippers in 2014, was on partially guaranteed two-way contract. Edmond Sumner is the Pacers’ other two-way player…
“What we’re going to be doing is watching the waiver wire,” Pacers president Kevin Pritchard said.
The Indiana Pacers have signed free agents Omari Johnson, Ben Moore and Elijah Stewart to contracts.
The players are likely just training camp additions.
Additionally, guard C.J. Wilcox, who was signed to a two-way contract in August, suffered a torn right Achilles tendon during an offseason workout. Wilcox underwent successful surgery to repair the tendon and will miss the entire 2018-19 regular season.
The Indiana Pacers have signed head coach Nate McMillan to a multi-year contract extension.
McMillan will enter his third season as Pacers’ coach after serving as the team’s Associate Head Coach for three seasons under Frank Vogel. In his first two seasons, the 54-year-old McMillan has a 90-74 record and helped guide the Pacers to two playoff appearances. Before the 2017-18 season, the Pacers were projected by many to be a lottery team, but ended up one of the biggest surprises in the NBA with a 48-34 record and a No. 5 seed in the East. The Pacers lost to Eastern Conference Champion Cleveland in the first round of the NBA Playoffs, but extended the Cavaliers in a closely-contested seven-game series. McMillan finished sixth in Coach of the Year balloting.
“I’m really proud of what Nate and our coaching staff have done,” said Pacers President of Basketball Operations Kevin Pritchard. “Nate is very deserving of this extension. We have a wonderful culture and he has been a big part of implementing that culture. He’s dedicated leader, a very good coach and we’re lucky to have him here with the Pacers.”
“I’m very appreciative of Kevin and Mr. Simon (team owner, Herb Simon) for this show of faith in what we are doing,” said McMillan. “Going back two years ago when I was hired, the trust Larry (Bird) and Mr. Simon had in myself and my staff meant a lot. Now with this extension, it’s an affirmation of what we all – front office, coaches, players, staff – are trying to accomplish.”
Young Pacers center Myles Turner put up modest stats last season — 12.7 points, 6.4 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game — but that was in just 28.2 minutes per outing. He’ll be worth watching this season, both in terms of his level of play as well as how many minutes the team gives him. Those things are related, of course. Here’s the Fort Worth Star-Telegram with more on Turner:
He’s changed his diet. He’s picked up yoga. Oh, and the NBA’s Eastern Conference doesn’t have LeBron James in it anymore.
“The East is open,” Turner said. “It’s going to be competitive. We’ve got a lot of good acquisitions in the off-season — our bench got stronger and we have high hopes for ourselves.”
The Pacers fell to James and the Cavaliers in seven games in the opening round of the playoffs last season, but have bolstered their roster by signing players such as Tyreke Evans, Doug McDermott and Kyle O’Quinn and drafting Aaron Holiday.
“Guys see an opportunity and everybody is going to try and seize it,” Turner said.