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James Wiseman signs two-year deal with Pacers

Matt Hanifan / NBA / July 2, 2024

<a rel= — James Wiseman goes from one of the worst-spaced offenses in the Pistons to one of the best in the Pacers. (Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports)

James Wiseman signs two-year deal with Pacers

Free agent center James Wiseman, the former No. 2 overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, has signed a two-year deal with the Indiana Pacers, ESPN NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski first reported Tuesday.

Free agent center James Wiseman has agreed on a two-year contract with the Indiana Pacers, sources tell ESPN. Wiseman was the No. 2 overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft. pic.twitter.com/UBA9Yhlejx
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 2, 2024

As of right now, the details of Wiseman’s compensation have yet to be released. Assuming he signs for the minimum, it would be worth roughly $4.8 million. The Pacers have their taxpayer-midlevel ($5.2), full non-taxpayer mid-level ($12.8M) and bi-annual exceptions ($4.7M) available, even though the latter two hard-caps them at the $178.132 million first apron.

Wiseman appeared in 63 games in his first full season with the Pistons last year, averaging 7.1 points and 5.3 rebounds in 17.3 minutes per game. He shot 61.3 percent from the floor with a true-shooting percentage of 63.7 percent. In 147 career games, he averaged 9.1 points and 5.6 rebounds in 19.0 minutes.

Jalen Smith agrees to three-year, $27 million deal with Bulls

Wiseman, 23, has struggled to find a consistent home during his young NBA career. He’s not the perfect player–he doesn’t space the floor and struggles in the pick-and-roll defensively–but perhaps learning behind Myles Turner and Isaiah Jackson will do him justice.

He will replace Jalen Smith–who signed a three-year deal with the Bulls–in the Pacers frontcourt. Perhaps a more spaced offense alongside Tyrese Haliburton could help the 7-footer.

He oozes with talent even though he’s yet to put it together. Do you think he can be a capable backup big in Indiana? Let us know in the comments!

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This is a breaking news story. Stay tuned for updates.

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