Indiana Pacers Waive Two Players And Finalize Training Camp Roster

The Indiana Pacers made a pair of moves on Sunday to finalize their roster for training camp.

Both moves were waivers — the Pacers moved on from Justin Anderson and Novel Pelle, two players who the franchise signed last Friday. Indiana freed up two roster spots in the move.

Anderson played for the Pacers last season and appeared in 13 games for the franchise. He started six times and ended up with averages of 6.1 points and 3.8 rebounds per game.

His defense on the wing was a boon for the blue and gold. Now, his talents may be headed to the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, Indiana’s G League affiliate. With the Mad Ants this past year, Anderson was named to the First Team All-NBA G League for his strong play.

Pelle has no prior ties to the Pacers franchise, but Fort Wayne traded for his returning player rights earlier this month. He will provide interior depth for the G League team if he plays for them this season. Pacers assistant coach Tom Hankins is the head coach for the Mad Ants.

Neither Anderson nor Pelle appeared in any practices or games for the team.

After the waivers, the Pacers roster now stands at 18 players. And the team announced on Monday that those 18 players will be the group that the franchise carries into training camp. Practices begin for the blue and gold on Tuesday.

Indiana’s training camp roster is two players shy of the maximum 20 a team can carry in the summer. Camp battles can be helpful for a young team, and having more bodies to observe and watch develop may have been beneficial for the Pacers. But they are opting to stick with a smaller group during camp this year.

Of the 18 guys Indiana is bringing into camp, eight of them are new to the team. The Pacers will look different this year as they shift from one core to the next.

“This is an official new era of Pacers basketball,” Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle said at media day on Monday. The blue and gold are younger than they have been in years as they enter a developmental period.

Indiana added veterans James Johnson and Langston Galloway in a pair of transactions in recent weeks. Those two players, along with Deividas Syrvidis, could be battling for the team’s final roster and two-way spots entering the season. The Pacers have not signed the maximum two players to two-way contracts yet and have only 13 guaranteed contracts on the books.

The Pacers project to have somewhere between $94-96 million dollars in total team salary entering the season, depending on who makes the opening night roster. That is roughly $15 million below the NBA salary floor, so Indiana is likely to make moves — such as signings, trades, or renegotiations — during the season.

The Pacers will play their first preseason game ten days from now. That will be the first chance to see the new look team, and a new era of Pacers basketball, in action.