The Indiana Pacers are coming off an excellent season where they made the Eastern Conference finals for the first since 2014.

They will be one of the most watched teams heading into the 2024-25 NBA season.

On Friday evening, the team made the announcement that they have signed two players to Exhibit 10 deals.

Via The Indiana Pacers: “We have signed guard Kyle Mangas and forward Cameron McGriff to Exhibit 10 contracts.”

McGriff played his college basketball for Oklahoma State.

He appeared in three NBA games with the Portland Trail Blazers during the 2021-22 season.

In that span, the 26-year-old averaged 4.7 points, 5.0 rebounds and 1.0 assists per contest while shooting 35.7% from the field and 33.3% from the three-point range.

Meanwhile, Mangas has yet to appear in an NBA game.

Last year (in the G League), he averaged 17.9 points, 3.1 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.2 steals per contest while shooting 46.5% from the field and 36.3% from the three-point range in 34 regular season games (28 starts).

Both players will probably spend training camp with the Pacers, but it’s highly unlikely that they will make the 15-man roster.

That said, they could be candidates to land a two-way (or 10-day) contract with the team at some point.

The Pacers finished last season as the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference with a 47-35 record.

They made the NBA playoffs for the first time since the 2020 season and have a very talented roster led by Tyrese Haliburton and Pascal Siakam.

FORT WAYNE. Ind. (WISH) — A male was found dead inside an apartment complex Thursday night in Fort Wayne, police say.

At 11:15 p.m., an off-duty Fort Wayne firefighter at Centennial Townhomes, located at 7911 Decatur Rd, reported hearing gunshots to the police.

When officers from the Fort Wayne Police Department arrived, they began canvassing the area and knocking on doors. They noticed an open sliding door and heard a male calling for help.

Upon entering the apartment, they found the male unconscious. Medics were called to the scene and confirmed that he had died.

Cirumstances regarding the shooting is still under investigation. The identification of the male has not been released.

Anyone with information should contact the Fort Wayne Police Department at 260-427-1201.

ESPN, via their NBA staff, recently published thier predictions for the Eastern Conference standings during the 2024-25 season, and they ranked the Indiana Pacers in seventh place.

The standings prediction has the Pacers finishing with a 46-36 record, which plants them right between the Miami Heat and Orlando Magic. Last season, Indiana reached the Eastern Conference Finals and finished in sixth place in the East.

It took all 82 games for the blue and gold to secure their postseason berth. They won on the final day of the season to earn the sixth seed in the East — they were close to being in the play-in tournament but avoided it before they toppled the Milwaukee Bucks and New York Knicks in the playoffs.

ESPN predicts that Indiana will win one fewer game in the coming season. The Pacers are bringing back largely the same team from 2023-24, and a big reason they are able to feel comfortable running it back is that they have a young roster. Many of the team’s key players are under 25 years old.

Because the team is younger, internal development alone could push Indiana to win more games in the coming season. But it’s reasonable to believe that the Boston Celtics will still be on top of the East, and the Philadelphia 76ers and New York Knicks added major talents this offseason.

Add in small, yet smart, moves from the Milwaukee Bucks and the Magic, and it’s easy to see why the top of the East is ranked as it is. Getting 47 wins in the Eastern Conference will be harder in 2024-25 than it was last season.

The ESPN standings prediction has the Pacers one win behind the Magic and one victory ahead of the Heat. The blue and gold are about to enter their first full season with Pascal Siakam, who they acquired in January via trade, so they are justified in thinking that they will be an improved squad in the coming season.

There are eight teams in the East who have a right to believe that they can be among the conference’s top-six teams, so every win will be important next season as teams push for a postseason berth. ESPN‘s full Eastern Conference standings prediction can be found here.