![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Kelly-Oubre-Jr.-vert-200x300.jpg\")
Kelly Oubre Jr.<\/a>: Two years, $16,500,000. Fully guaranteed. Signed using non-taxpayer mid-level exception.\nLarry Nance Jr.<\/a>: One year, minimum salary. Fully guaranteed. Signed using minimum salary exception.<\/p>\n
Trades<\/p>\n
Acquired the draft rights to Braden Smith<\/a> (No. 38 pick) from the Bulls in exchange for Kam Jones<\/a>, the right to swap 2028 second-round picks, the right to swap 2030 second-round picks, and cash ($2,075,459).<\/p>\n Draft picks<\/p>\n Two-way signings<\/p>\n Kobe Brown<\/a><\/p>\n One year, $91,000 partial guarantee (will increase to $339,441 at start of regular season).<\/p>\n Jalen Slawson<\/a><\/p>\n One year, $91,000 partial guarantee.<\/p>\n Note: The Pacers carried over Ethan Thompson<\/a> on a two-way contract from 2025\/26.<\/p>\n Departed\/unsigned free agents<\/p>\n Other roster moves<\/p>\n Salary cap situation<\/p>\n Note: Figures are rounded to one decimal place.<\/p>\n Operating\u00a0over the cap ($165MM) and below the first tax apron ($209MM) The offseason so far<\/p>\n The 2026 offseason has been a relatively quiet one in Indiana, in large part because the Pacers did their major work ahead of time, in \u201cpre-agency.\u201d Despite being well out of the playoff picture, the Pacers sent Bennedict Mathurin<\/a>, Isaiah Jackson<\/a>, and a package of draft picks to the Clippers at February\u2019s trade deadline in exchange for center Ivica Zubac<\/a>, belatedly filling the hole at the five that was created when Myles Turner<\/a> departed in free agency last July.<\/p>\n If the Pacers hadn\u2019t made that move, the major question entering the offseason would have been how the team was going to upgrade at the five. Instead, the most significant question was whether or not the team\u2019s first-round pick would drop to No. 5. Entering lottery night, Indiana had a 52.1% chance of hanging onto the top-four protected pick it sent to L.A. in the Zubac trade, with a 47.9% chance of it slipping to No. 5 and conveying to the Clippers.<\/p>\n The Pacers\u2019 summer would have looked a whole lot different if that coin flip had gone their way. In that scenario, Indiana would have one of AJ Dybantsa<\/a>, Darryn Peterson<\/a>, Cameron Boozer<\/a>, or Caleb Wilson<\/a> on its roster right now and we\u2019d be talking about how the team would manage that player\u2019s development with its desire to return to title contention right away.<\/p>\n Unfortunately for fans in Indiana, the ping-pong balls didn\u2019t bounce the Pacers\u2019 way and the club lost its first-round pick. As a result, the front office had just one major item on its offseason to-do list \u2014 adding another reliable role player on the wing to help make up for losing Mathurin in the Zubac deal.<\/p>\n Indiana addressed that need by working out a two-year, $16.5MM deal in free agency with veteran forward Kelly Oubre Jr.<\/a> While Oubre doesn\u2019t have the same upside as a scorer that Mathurin does, he does have one 20 PPG season on his NBA r\u00e9sum\u00e9 and is a more versatile, well-rounded overall contributor than Mathurin. Oubre is a solid positional rebounder who is coming off his best season as a three-point shooter (36.0%) and can guard multiple positions on defense.<\/p>\n After starting at least 41 games in each of the past three seasons in Philadelphia, Oubre figures to come off the bench in Indiana as long as everyone is healthy, with Tyrese Haliburton<\/a> returning to lead a starting lineup that will also feature Andrew Nembhard<\/a>, Aaron Nesmith<\/a>, Pascal Siakam<\/a>, and Zubac. But the former Sixer will likely one be one of Indiana\u2019s go-to reserves and will be part of the postseason rotation, assuming the team makes it.<\/p>\n General manager Chad Buchanan explained the move<\/a> by noting that the Pacers like Nance\u2019s basketball IQ, experience, and locker-room fit and believe he\u2019ll be \u201cvery motivated\u201d to have a bounce-back year. The expectation is that the veteran big man will compete with Jay Huff<\/a> for backup center minutes behind Zubac.<\/p>\n For a second straight year, the Pacers also made a draft-night trade to acquire the No. 38 overall pick. After using that selection on Kam Jones<\/a> in 2025, Indiana sent out Jones, a pair of second-round pick swaps, and cash in exchange for this year\u2019s 38th pick, which the team used to select Purdue\u2019s Braden Smith<\/a>. It was a pretty good price for the Pacers, who likely wouldn\u2019t have retained Jones for the 2026\/27 season and were able to avoid waiving him and eating his $1.1MM partial guarantee.<\/p>\n Up next<\/p>\n The Pacers are carrying 14 players on standard contracts and are operating about $2.24MM below their first-apron hard cap. They won\u2019t be able to sign a free agent to a minimum-salary contract until November 5, when a veteran\u2019s minimum cap hit has prorated downward from $2.49MM to $2.22MM, so it\u2019s probably a safe bet to assume they\u2019ll keep that 15th spot open into the season and fill it down the road.<\/p>\n It\u2019s worth noting that the Pacers do have enough room below the first apron to sign second-rounder Smith to a rookie minimum deal, which would be worth about $1.36MM. But that would compromise their financial and roster flexibility for the rest of the league year, so the expectation has long been that they\u2019ll sign Smith to a two-way contract instead.<\/p>\n That outcome appears more certain than ever after word broke on Thursday<\/a> that current two-way player Ethan Thompson<\/a> has reached a tentative agreement to sign with KK Partizan in Serbia. Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star (Twitter link<\/a>) confirms that the plan is to waive Thompson, which will create a two-way opening for Smith.<\/p>\n While waiving Thompson and signing Smith to a two-way deal may be the only remaining move that will affect the Pacers\u2019 projected opening night roster, the team has several players eligible for veteran contract extensions this offseason, including Haliburton, Siakam, Nembhard, and Obi Toppin<\/a>. All of those players are under contract for 2027\/28, so I don\u2019t think the front office will feel an urgent need to extend them yet, but if the price is right, it\u2019s possible a deal or two could get done.<\/p>\n Jarace Walker<\/a> and Ben Sheppard<\/a> are also eligible for rookie scale extensions up until October 19, but I\u2019d be surprised if Indiana reaches an agreement with either player. Walker\u2019s and Sheppard\u2019s contributions through their first three NBA seasons have been up and down, and their expiring contracts could come in handy before the trade deadline if the Pacers\u2019 season isn\u2019t going as planned and the team wants to duck out of luxury tax territory (that may be a goal for Indiana\u2019s tax-averse ownership group even if the club is in the playoff mix).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hoops Rumors is checking in on the 2026 offseason for all 30 NBA teams, recapping the summer\u2019s free…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":835145,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3774],"tags":[7,113,126,3866,6,114],"class_list":["post-835144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-indiana-pacers","tag-basketball","tag-indiana","tag-indiana-pacers","tag-indianapacers","tag-nba","tag-pacers"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/117270235702055394","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/835144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=835144"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/835144\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/835145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=835144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=835144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=835144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nHard-capped at first apron.
\nTeam salary: $206.3MM (tax); $206.8MM (apron).
\nOver luxury tax line by $5.9MM; below hard cap by $2.2MM.
\nPartial non-taxpayer mid-level exception ($7MM) available.
\nFull bi-annual exception ($5.5MM) available.
\nOne traded player exception available (worth $1.1MM).<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Larry-Nance-Jr-200x300.jpg\")
The Pacers also made a minor change in their frontcourt, signing forward\/center Larry Nance Jr.<\/a> to a minimum-salary contract and waiving Micah Potter<\/a>, whose own minimum deal was non-guaranteed. The move generated about $352K in cap savings, which isn\u2019t entirely insignificant for a team operating so close to its first-apron hard cap, but it still came as a surprise to many fans who liked what they saw from Potter when he was forced into action last season.<\/p>\n