Indiana Pacers Waive Travelin Queen, Sign Gabe York To Two-Way Deal

The Indiana Pacers made a pair of roster moves this week to boost their team with 10 days left in the NBA season.

The transactions began on Wednesday when the Pacers waived two-way contract guard Trevelin Queen. Queen, 26, has been on a two-way deal since training camp, but he spent most of his season with Indiana’s G League affiliate team, the Fort Wayne Mad Ants.

In seven appearances with the Pacers, Queen averaged 3.0 points and 2.4 rebounds per game. He made just
just
over $500k on his two-way deal with Indiana on top of the $330k he is owed by Philadelphia this season.

Two-way contracts do not carry a cap hit, so Queen didn’t count against the salary cap for the Pacers this season. Waiving him carries no cap penalty for the Pacers, either. They simply open a two-way roster spot by moving on from the 26-year old, though his contract is fully guaranteed and will still be paid out in full.

“Trevelin is a great player. He can for sure score the ball. Great teammate, in my opinion.” Pacers center Jalen Smith, who was close to Queen since both players are from Maryland, said. “He just wasn’t able to find his footing here. I have no doubt that he’ll find somewhere else quickly.”

Queen was rarely needed at the pro level as the Pacers have been healthy for much of this season, so he played in 35 games for the Mad Ants, where he averaged nearly 23 points per game. He was suspended for the team’s final game of the season, a playoff loss to Capital City.

Armed with a now open two-way roster spot, the Pacers were able to add another player. Anybody with a maximum of three years of NBA service is eligible for a two-way contract, so the team had many options.

The Pacers current front office has called up a member of the Mad Ants almost every season of their tenure, so it was fair to assume that they were looking to their G League club to fill their newly opened roster slot, especially with the Mad Ants season ending on Tuesday. And that is exactly what the team ended up doing — on Thursday, the Pacers signed guard Gabe York, who had spent the entire season to date with Fort Wayne.

York spent a few days with the Pacers during his rookie season in 2021-22. He averaged 4.0 points, 2.0 rebounds, and 1.0 assists per game in two outings while shooting 28.6% from the field. He debuted in the NBA as a 28-year old.

He used that time to grow and develop, though, and spent time in Indianapolis last summer working out with Pacers players. That took his game to another level, and he averaged 22.1 points per game in the G League this season while shooting over 39% from long range on nearly nine three-point attempts per game. York was an offensive force for the Mad Ants — he won G League Player of the Week multiple times.

“Loyalty and consistency should be rewarded,” Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle said of the team signing York. “Management and the coaching staff were completely in agreement that Gabe deserved this opportunity.”

This stint, York will get a bit more time at the NBA level, and he’s a better player than he was last time he got a call up. The guard should be able to stand out a bit more for the Pacers down the stretch.

It isn’t clear exactly what York’s role will be, especially on an Indiana team that already has several guards, but he should be able to help out in the scoring department at any time. He could get some of the playing time that has recently been going to veteran guard George Hill.

It should be noted that York can only be active for three of his team’s final five games. This year, two-way contract rules only allow players to be active for 50 out of 82 games over the course of the full season, and that ratio is applied to a two-way player whenever they sign. Such a ratio would allow York to be active for 3.05 games down the stretch, meaning he is permitted to be active for three.

“I believe he’s only available for three of the last five games… we’ll have to choose which games he’ll be available for,” Carlisle said.

York will make half of the NBA first-year player minimum salary on his two-way deal. It will not count against the salary cap for the Pacers, who have a full roster and are right at the salary cap line for the 2022-23 season.

The Pacers are 33-44 and are technically still in the race for the final play-in spot in the Eastern Conference. They are in development mode down the stretch of the season, and the inexperienced York is a part of that.