Indiana Pacers Keep James Johnson As Contract Becomes Guaranteed

INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana Pacers were facing a contract deadline on Tuesday with forward James Johnson. The veteran four man, who is in his 16th NBA season, entered the day on a partially guaranteed contract.

Johnson’s minimum deal this season had $750k guaranteed, though he has already surpassed that amount in late December in terms of accrued earnings. On January 10th, every contract in the NBA becomes guaranteed, so the full amount of Johnson’s deal would hit the books if he is still on Indiana’s roster on that date.

Technically, though, the contract guarantee date for Johnson came on Tuesday the 7th. That’s because a player has to clear the waiver process, which takes two days, by the 10th to have the non-guaranteed part of their salary removed from a team’s salary books. So if a player like Johnson — that had a contract which wasn’t fully guaranteed this season — wasn’t waived on/before Tuesday, then their contract would be fully guaranteed.

The Pacers kept Johnson through that date, meaning his $3.3 million salary is now guaranteed for the season, though Indiana is only responsible for just under $2.1 million of that. The rest is reimbursed by the NBA, so Indiana’s cap hit for Johnson for the remainder of the season is that $2.1 million number.

“He’s not going anywhere,” Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle told Dustin Dopirak of the Indianapolis Star this week when asked about Johnson. “We need him.”

Why did the Pacers keep James Johnson?

For the Pacers, the decision to keep Johnson or not was all about the balance of financial savings and leadership. The blue and gold are right up against the luxury tax — barely sitting under the tax threshold right now. Waiving Johnson on Tuesday would have saved the team $1.1 million and given them more distance below the tax line.

What Indiana had to determine is if there was a better use of that savings than having Johnson on the roster. He’s played in six games for the blue and gold this season, but his value comes almost entirely off the court, which has been made clear by the number of times the Pacers have re-signed Johnson.

He is one of the oldest players in the NBA and a key veteran for a growing Pacers team. His voice is well received, and he is one of the first players off the bench to offer encouragement or tips during in-game timeouts. His work behind the scenes is extremely important to the team, which is why he’s been around for three seasons.

As a result, Johnson was retained at the expense of some optionality. “He doesn’t let things slide,” Pacers guard T.J. McConnell said of Johnson a few years ago. “Usually, there are guys that let things go. But I feel like he feels like he owes it to us that we’re not going to create any bad habits here.”

Some flexibility could have been nice for the Pacers with the trade deadline approaching, but having more options only carries value if there are good options available. While a few more very specific trades could have opened up, they weren’t worth losing a valuable veteran.

Johnson, 37, has signed seven contracts with Indiana since September of 2022. He’s averaging 1.3 points per game this season, and guys love having him around. “He’s super valuable for the team. He’s kind of just like a glue guy,” Pacers rookie Johnny Furphy said of Johnson.

The Pacers opted for continuity in the offseason and kept Johnson. He’ll keep helping in his own way as Indiana looks to keep climbing the Eastern Conference standings.

“Those are my guys,” Johnson said of the Pacers after re-signing during the 2023-24 season. “I don’t think I would have went back [to the NBA] for any other call other than the Pacers.”