Indiana
James Wiseman Another Bet On Indiana Pacers Ability To Develop
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA – FEBRUARY 22: James Wiseman #13 of the Detroit Pistons dunks the ball past … [+]
INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana Pacers officially signed center James Wiseman on Friday, a move that was necessitated by the reported departure of Jalen Smith. The blue and gold needed a big man, and they got one in Wiseman.
It’s a fascinating signing, and one that is a no-risk, high reward deal for the Pacers. Wiseman was the second overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft and was considered a high-upside big man at the time. So far, that hasn’t come to fruition. But if anyone can turn his fortunes, it’s Indiana.
The blue and gold have improved as a team in the last three years in large part because of their ability to develop players who weren’t panning out elsewhere. Aaron Nesmith, Obi Toppin, Jalen Smith, Tyrese Haliburton, and Jordan Nwora all came to Indiana from other places where they either didn’t fit perfectly, didn’t play, or weren’t in the long-term plans. They all got better with the Pacers.
“The most rewarding part of this job has been the player development aspect of it,” Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle said in late May. “When you’re a small market team, there are certain things you’ve got to be great at. You’ve got to be great at player development.”
Another commonality among those players is they were all drafted in 2020. That’s more of a coincidence than anything, but that applies to Wiseman as well. The Pacers new center, along with Haliburton, Nesmith, Toppin, and Smith were all selected in the lottery of that draft.
Wiseman will hope that Indiana can help him find his footing in the NBA. With the Golden State Warriors, he was given chances to play but wasn’t effective or on the team’s timeline. He also missed an entire season due to injury, and he was traded to the Detroit Pistons at the 2023 trade deadline for several second-round draft picks.
With the Pistons, Wiseman struggled. He was out of the rotation early in the most recent campaign. Along the way, there were flashes — Wiseman’s size and speed gave him incredible highs. But his defense, turnovers, and lack of range are limiting.
Wiseman’s contract reflects a player has yet to put it all together. It’s a two-year deal, and the fact that it was signed before the moratorium was complete confirms it’s a minimum salary deal. It is partially guaranteed in the first season, and there’s a team option on year two. There’s almost no risk for the Pacers.
Yet there is upside, certainly, and the fact that Indiana signed Wiseman at all is reflective of their belief that he could turn into something over the life of the deal. The blue and gold are a contending team — they need their reserve players to produce when they are called upon. As the projected third center behind Myles Turner and Isaiah Jackson, Wiseman will play when injuries pop up. Indiana will need him to execute, and they wouldn’t have added him without some faith he can perform.
DETROIT, MICHIGAN – DECEMBER 11: Bennedict Mathurin #00 of the Indiana Pacers drives to the basket … [+]
If he can’t help out, then he won’t play. Wiseman will have to get better as a pick-and-roll defender, a ball caretaker, and a jump shooter. His range is limited, and his defense needs work. The average distance of a Wiseman shot attempt last season was under five feet, and Detroit’s defense was about 3.7 points per 100 possessions worse with Wiseman on the court. He has room to improve around his impressive rebounding and play finishing.
Certain players have seen their skills grow at these traits with the Pacers in recent seasons. Isaiah Jackson has improved as a defender, particularly with his discipline. Smith became a much better shooter with the blue and gold, as did Toppin and Nemsith. Nwora grew as a passer. Any of those improvements happening with Wiseman would be a welcome sight.
It would be a win for both parties. Wiseman needed to find a team that could help him get better and increase his chances of having a long NBA career. The Pacers hope they can turn a young, unproven player into a cheap contributor. Both groups really want this partnership to work.
That’s why it makes sense as a signing, especially if Wiseman is able to get better over the life of the deal. Indiana needs him to produce, but if he does, this agreement will be a win-win as Wiseman bets on himself with a lightly guaranteed contract.
Indiana
Indiana redistricting is up for a final, deciding vote in the state Senate – The Boston Globe
Indiana state senators are expected to take a final, high-stakes vote on redistricting Thursday after months of pressure from President Donald Trump, and the outcome is still uncertain.
Even in the face of one-on-one pressure from the White House and violent threats against state lawmakers, many Indiana Republicans have been reluctant to back a new congressional map that would favor their party’s candidates in the 2026 elections.
Trump is asking Republican-led states to redistrict in the middle of the decade, an uncommon practice, in order to make more winnable seats for the GOP ahead of next year’s elections. Midterms tend to favor the party opposite the one in power, and Democrats are increasingly liking their odds at flipping control of the U.S. House after the results of recent high-profile elections.
In Indiana, Trump supports passage of a new map drawn up by the National Republican Redistricting Trust designed to deliver all nine of the state’s congressional districts to the GOP. Republicans currently hold seven of the nine seats.
On Wednesday night, he sharply criticized party members who didn’t want to go along with the plan, and he repeated his threat to back primary challenges for anyone who voted against it.
“If Republicans will not do what is necessary to save our Country, they will eventually lose everything to the Democrats,” Trump wrote on social media.
The new map would split the city of Indianapolis into four districts, each included with large portions of rural Indiana — three of which would stretch from the central city to the borders of nearby states. Indianapolis now makes up one congressional district long held by Democratic U.S. Rep. André Carson.
The proposed map is also designed to eliminate the district of U.S. Rep. Frank Mrvan, who represents an urban district near Chicago.
A dozen lawmakers of the 50-member state Senate have not publicly declared a stance on the new maps.
If at least four of that group side with the chamber’s 10 Democrats and 12 other Republicans who are expected to vote no, the vote would fail in a remarkable rebuke to Trump’s demand.
Supporters of the proposed map need at least 25 yes votes; a tie would be broken with Republican Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith’s vote, who is in favor of redistricting.
In a Senate committee Monday, the redistricting legislation took its first step toward passage in a 6-3 vote, with one Republican joining the committee’s two Democrats in voting against it. However, a few of the Republican senators indicated they may vote against the bill in a final vote.
The Republican supermajority in the state House passed the proposed map last week. Twelve Republicans voted with the chamber’s 30 Democrats against the bill.
Nationally, mid-cycle redistricting so far has resulted in nine more congressional seats that Republicans believe they can win and six more congressional seats that Democrats think they can win. However, redistricting is being litigated in several states.
Texas, Missouri, Ohio and North Carolina quickly enacted new GOP-favorable maps. California voters recently approved a new map in response to Texas’ that would favor Democratic candidates, and a judge in Utah imposed new districts that could allow Democrats to win a seat, after ruling that Republican lawmakers circumvented voter-approved anti-gerrymandering standards.
Multiple Republican groups are threatening to support primary opponents of Indiana state senators who vote against redistricting. Turning Point Action pledged “congressional level spending” in state Legislature races if the redistricting measure does not pass. Trump has also vowed to endorse primary challengers of members who vote against the new map.
Indiana
DoorDash driver accused of pepper-spraying customer’s Arby’s order, resulting in wife falling ill
Caught red (pepper) handed.
A DoorDash driver has been banned from the app after being accused of dousing an order with pepper spray and causing an unsuspecting customer to fall ill after eating the tainted food.
The sick act was caught on a doorbell camera outside an Evansville, Indiana, home just after midnight on Sunday.
The driver, who hasn’t been charged with any crime, was dropping off an Arby’s delivery to Mark Cardin and his wife, Mandy, when she snapped a confirmation photo before suddenly producing an object from her pocket and spraying the order.
The blue-haired worker placed the spray back into her jacket pocket before walking away, all in front of the camera.
The couple brought the order inside, unaware that something was wrong with it and began chowing down.
Moments later, Mandy began struggling to breathe.
“I noticed my wife had starting eating and she started choking and gasping, and after she had a couple bites of her food she actually threw up,” he told WFIE.
The horrified customer began investigating the cause of his wife’s sudden illness when he examined the order.
“I had a look at the bag and seen that there was some kind of spray or something,” Cardin said. “The bag had been tampered with. So I pulled up my doorbell camera and seen that the lady who dropped the food off had actually tampered with it on purpose for some reason.”
Cardin shared the photos and videos of the driver to Facebook asking for help in identifying the driver.
He attempted to contact her but found she already blocked him on the app.
Cardin reported the food runner’s stunt to DoorDash and the Vanderburgh County Sheriff’s Office is looking to get the driver fired and charged.
“I definitely want to see her prosecuted,” Cardin told WFIE, adding that they had never met her before and had left a tip before the incident.
The driver has been banned from the app after footage surfaced of the late-night delivery.
“We have zero tolerance for this type of appalling behavior. The Dasher in question has been permanently removed from the platform, and our team is standing by to support law enforcement with any investigation,” a DoorDash spokesperson told The Post.
Cardin doesn’t know exactly what was sprayed on the food, fearing it could’ve been worse than it was.
“It’s horrific,” Cardin said. “We assume it’s pepper spray, that’s more than likely what it is, but now in this day and age it could’ve been anything. It could’ve been rat poison, it could’ve been fentanyl. I mean, my wife could’ve been dead.”
The Vanderburgh County Sheriff’s Office has opened an investigation into the driver and could charge her with consumer product tampering, a level 6 felony, according to WFIE.
If the foreign spray resulted in harm the charge could be increased to a level 5 felony.
“We live in a terrible world right now,” Mark said. “Horrific. People are mean for no reason. There was no reason to do what she done,” Cardin said, encouraging other food delivery app users to be cautious with their future orders.
“I would say to anybody, if you order food on any kind of delivery service, make sure you have a doorbell,” Mark said.
“This is making me second guess ever ordering food from anywhere ever again,” he said.
Indiana
Several northeast Indiana cities, counties awarded grants for infrastructure projects
NORTHEAST INDIANA (WPTA) – The Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) has announced the list of cities and counties selected to receive funds through its Community Crossings Matching Grant Program.
The Community Crossings program, created in 2016, gives funding to towns, cities, and counties in the Hoosier State that are used for infrastructure improvement projects.
Projects eligible for funding through the program include road and bridge preservation projects that comply with Americans with Disabilities Act standards, along with chip sealing and crack-filling operations.
On Tuesday, the following recipients were announced:
Allen County, Bluffton, DeKalb County, and LaGrange County were among those that received the largest grants, at $1 million.
You can view the full list of recipients here.
INDOT says the next call for project submissions will open in July. For more information about the program, visit INDOT’s website.
Copyright 2025 WPTA. All rights reserved.
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