Indiana Pacers Make Long-Term Roster Maneuvers As Season Nears End

With little time left in the 2021-22 NBA season, the Indiana Pacers made a handful of transactions that will have an impact across the ongoing and future seasons.

The team announced that they are waiving point guard Keifer Sykes while simultaneously converting the two-way contracts of forward Terry Taylor and guard Duane Washington to standard NBA contracts. The team made the news official on Thursday morning.

Taylor and Washington were on two-way deals with the Pacers, but both of them had outplayed their current contract and were deserving of a pay bump. The Pacers wanted to lock them up for this season and beyond, so both players were signed to multi-year deals according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. Now, instead of needing to negotiate with the pair in restricted free agency this offseason, Indiana can be confident that the two have a future with the franchise.

“He plays with joy, plays for his teammates. He’s a terrific competitor, I love his feel for the game,” Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle said of Washington earlier this season. The first-year guard is averaging 9.6 points per game, top-15 amongst rookies. “For a guy on a two-way contract, he’s doing a great job.”

In addition to his scoring prowess, Washington has impressed many with his quick decision making skills and outside shooting ability. He fits well within Carlisle’s offensive system and has grown tremendously during his first season.

Taylor, meanwhile, has proven to be one of the more unique players in the NBA. The 6-foot-5-inch forward plays in the post despite his stature, and he provides the Pacers a ton of value down low. The Kentucky native lives, and thrives, in the paint — his offensive rebounding percentage is top-five in the entire NBA, and he shoots 75.8% from inside of three-feet. Despite not being built like a center, Taylor does well when battling against other bigs.

“He’s probably the best 6-foot-6-inch or under rebounder I’ve ever been around,” Pacers assistant coach and Fort Wayne Mad Ants head coach Tom Hankins detailed earlier this season. “[He has] phenomenal hands [and] timing. Just a natural ability to read the ball while it’s in the air as far as the shot, knowing where it’s going. Just kind of has the total package.”

Both Taylor and Washington have been in the Pacers rotation frequently this season. Taylor has played in all but two games since the All-Star break and has started seven different times throughout the campaign while Washington has appeared in all but three games since the calendar flipped to 2022. Both of them have been strong performers on two-way deals, and both earned a salary increase.

By converting the contracts of both two-way players, the Pacers added two guys to their standard roster. To do that, they needed two roster spots — and they only had one available after Justin Anderson’s 10-day contract expired. To free up the other slot, the team moved on from reserve guard Keifer Sykes.

Sykes joined the Pacers in late December when the team was desperate for point guard help. Malcolm Brogdon and T..J McConnell were sidelined with injuries, and Brad Wanamaker’s production wasn’t cutting it. Sykes was brought in to steady to ship.

And he did just that. In his first ten days with the blue and gold, Sykes averaged 10.4 points and 3.6 assists per game while shooting 44.2% from the field and 34.8% from deep. He earned a spot on the Pacers roster during that stretch.

From that span on, though, Sykes’ accuracy faded. He shot over 40% from the field in just five of his next 27 games, and he was occasionally out of the team’s rotation entirely. The 28-year old’s strong defense, especially for his size, allowed him to remain effective, but his inconsistent play made him the best candidate for the front office to move on from in order to convert the two-way deals.

By making these moves, the Pacers opened a pair of open two-way spots that they were able to use to sign other players. With just four days and two games left in a losing season, nobody signed at this stage will have a major impact down the stretch for the blue and gold, but the open slots still allow the franchise to bring in more young talent or get a brief look at an unproven player.

The Pacers did just that by turning to their G League affiliate. Forward Nate Hinton, who spent ten days on the Pacers earlier this season, and guard Gabe York had strong seasons for the Mad Ants and were rewarded with a call up to the pro club on a two-way deal. With such a short amount of time left in the campaign, the pair will not have much opportunity to leave an impression on the franchise, though it is possible one or both of them signed a two-year, two-way deal.

All the moves made by Indiana were savvy and forward thinking. They grabbed two promising young pieces on longer contracts while sacrificing little in terms of assets and flexibility. Losing Sykes hurts, but the team can always bring him back next season if they want to keep him around. Giving Taylor and Washington more lucrative, and longer, contracts was a better use of resources by team decision makers, and extra looks at Hinton and York could prove valuable.

The 25-55 Pacers close out their season this weekend, and their roster will look a little different for those games. But the offseason, and future seasons, are more important for the rebuilding team, and making these moves will make the Pacers a stronger team beyond this year. Even with the end of the campaign coming, Indiana is making sure their team is set up for success beyond its final two games.