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Good news for the Pacers, per the Indianapolis Star:
Indianapolis Pacers coach Nate McMillan said Victor Oladipo will start against the Milwaukee Bucks tonight at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.
Oladipo had missed the past 11 games, the Pacers going 7-4 in his absence. Oladipo will be on a minutes restriction but McMillan wouldn’t say what the number is. Oladipo will likely be substituted early so he’ll have minutes available for the second half.
Here’s the Indianapolis Star reporting on Tyreke Evans, who despite averaging 10.6 points on 37% shooting so far this season will apparently remain in the Indiana Pacers starting lineup for the time being. Evans has started all 24 games he’s played in so far:
Bojan Bogdanovic speaks about Evans the way the rest of his teammates do: with patience.
He’s a professional they all say. There’s a reason he’s been around the league for a decade. He knows what’s he doing. It will click for him soon. Have patience.
Patience is what coach Nate McMillan is preaching as well — especially in regards to Evans’ place in the Pacers starting lineup, which isn’t going to change.
“He’s had some turnovers, some missed shots lately, (but) we’re not going to go away from him,” McMillan said. “Off the bench, he was doing some good things for us. Hopefully he’ll find his rhythm and start knocking down some of those shots.”
While McMillan isn’t wrong that Evans was doing some good things off the bench, he wasn’t doing them consistently — or to the level the Pacers likely expected when they brought him to the team this offseason.
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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.