How The Indiana Pacers Used Their Salary Cap Space To Get Better In Free Agency

The Indiana Pacers were set up for a busy offseason before it even started. After a pair of draft trades moved them back a spot in the lottery and sent the 29th pick to the Denver Nuggets, the Pacers were set to have over $32 million in salary cap space to use in free agency.

That’s a ton, and with the new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) being implemented on July 1, teams are strongly incentivized to reach the minimum team salary prior to the start of the regular season. That meant the Pacers needed to spend about $19 million in free agency on something. The hope for the team was that they could get something valuable.

“The team will look different next year. There’s no question about that,” Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle said during his exit interview back in April. “We’ve got some unrestricted free agents that may or may not be back.”

The Pacers needed to spend, and they were looking for upgrades. Improvement is a goal for the franchise in the 2023-24 season, and they needed to add talent. Grabbing one of the better free agents was a priority for the team.

Soon after the negotiation period for free agents opened up, it was revealed that the blue and gold had come to terms on a two-year agreement with guard/wing Bruce Brown. Brown, 26, won a championship with the Nuggets last season and averaged 11.5 points per game while playing excellent defense for the club.

The multi-year agreement is for $45 million in total, which looked like a high number at first. But with the salary cap rising — it’s over $136 million now — and the importance of quality play on the wing rising for competitive teams, it was a price that Indiana was more than willing to pay.

Indiana likely had to pay more to get a team option on the second year of the contract, but they were successful. If things go poorly this year for Brown, the team can decline his option and make him a free agent next year, which would open up cap space. If the partnership is successful, then they could keep the wing for another year. The team option is great for the Pacers, but it played a part in the higher average annual value of the deal.

“It really came out of nowhere,” Brown said of the agreement on Theo Pinson’s Run Your Race podcast. He thought he might get offers closer to the Non-Taxpayer Mid-Level Exception (MLE) at around $12.4 million over multiple years. “Sign it right away. Tell them right away, I’m coming,” Brown recalled telling his agent.

Instead of multiple years at the MLE, Brown got one guaranteed year at $22 million, and he has the potential to make more with Indiana. It’s a win-win deal, especially since the blue and gold had to spend their money somewhere.

The following day, it was reported that the Pacers were acquiring power forward Obi Toppin from the New York Knicks in a trade. In exchange, they sent a 2028 second-round pick (the worst of Indiana’s and Phoenix’s) and a 2029 second-round pick (the worst of Indiana’s and Washington’s) to the Knicks.

New York needed to clear a bit of money, and Toppin was not in their long-term plans. Indiana benefitted from that situation and were able to swoop in and grab Toppin for a low price. They took the forward into their remaining cap space without sending any salary away.

“I feel like this fresh start for me is going to be great… I can’t wait to get started,” Toppin said about being traded a few weeks ago.

Toppin is set to make $6.8 million in the 2023-24 season, the final year of his rookie-scale contract. He will be a restricted free agent in 2024 if the Pacers send him a qualifying offer next summer. Indiana has needed depth at the power forward position for a few campaigns.

Between Brown and Toppin, the Pacers used $28.8 million of their $32.2 million in space early in free agency. They would have left them with about $3.3 million of cap space remaining. But they made one more move.

Indiana traded Chris Duarte, and his $4.1 million in salary for the coming season, to the Sacramento Kings for two second-round draft picks (one from Dallas in 2028 and the other from Sacramento in 2030).

“I go wherever God takes me. If this is where he wants me to be, I’m happy,” Duarte said of being traded.

No salary came back to the Pacers in that trade, so it pushed the blue and gold to nearly $7.5 million in room. That’s where they sit right now.

When considering cap holds for James Johnson and George Hill, technically Indiana has about $3.45 million in cap space right now and going forward. But those can be renounced at any time and have very little value, so it’s more appropriate to say that the team has about $7.5 million to play with.

That could be used for many different things, such as renegotiations and extensions, signings, or taking in a player via trade. There are many directions the Pacers could decide to go with their cap room, and they could even carry it into the season.

Indiana’s offseason could slow down now that their roster is essentially filled out, but they were savvy with how they used their cap space in free agency. It will behoove them this season and beyond.