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The Indiana Pacers announced Monday they have signed Alize Johnson to a contract. Per team policy, the terms of the contract were not released.

The Pacers selected Johnson with the 50th overall pick in the second round of the 2018 NBA Draft. Johnson averaged 15.0 points and 11.6 rebounds per game last season as a senior at Missouri State.

Johnson appeared in five games last week for the Pacers in the 2018 NBA Summer League in Las Vegas, averaging 12.4 points, 8.6 rebounds, and 1.6 steals in 23 minutes per game.

https://www.nba.com/pacers/news/pacers-sign-alize-johnson

This is unsurprising.

Rumor on twitter is that it is a minimum deal - but I haven't seen a reputable enough source definitively say that it is. If that's the case, I find it odd that we haven't used our second two way deal.

Jake0890 wrote:Rumor on twitter is that it is a minimum deal - but I haven't seen a reputable enough source definitively say that it is. If that's the case, I find it odd that we haven't used our second two way deal.

a two-way player can only play 45 games here. the rest must be in Fort Wayne. I don't find it odd at all that Alize was given a regular contract. we can still let him play some in Fort Wayne.

last year Moore had a two-way (Sumner is already signed to a second year as a two-way) and Alize is clearly has more upside than Moore so we now have the option to keep Moore, or really anyone other than Alize, on a two-way.

Alize has to agree if the Pacers are offering a 2-way instead of a regular contract, and maybe he felt that his excellent summer league showing justifies a regular roster spot. Well done to him in any case.

If there's anything to regret, it's that we're not able to sign him to a longer deal. Contracts are limited to a maximum of 2 years with the minimum exception. Pacers have offered longer deals to some of their second rounders recently (Joe Young had a 4-year deal, Ike had a 3-year deal). It's not clear to me whether the Pacers just ran out of cap space or whether there's another reason. We could have gotten the necessary cap space, I think - based on reports, the Pacers waived Poythress *after* signing O'Quinn with the room exception. If they changed the order so that Poythress was waived first, it seems to me that the Pacers would then have the small amount of cap space needed to sign Alize to a longer deal. Oh well.

Btw Ike's deal guaranteed on July 15, so his place on the roster is set. The Pacers now have one regular roster spot and one 2-way spot left, barring trades.

per wiretap, the other two-way is for Stewart. I'm not familiar with him.

https://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/250717/Elijah-Stewart-Agrees-To-Two-Way-Deal-With-Pacers

granger05 wrote:per wiretap, the other two-way is for Stewart. I'm not familiar with him.

https://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/250717/Elijah-Stewart-Agrees-To-Two-Way-Deal-With-Pacers

Wiretap seems to be wrong. Sham's tweet says that Stewart signed an Exhibit 10 deal. What is Exhibit 10 you ask?

If a standard NBA contract includes an attachment called Exhibit 10, the team receives the right to convert the contract to a Two-Way contract.

It's an unguaranteed contract with an option to convert to 2-way. Looks more like a training camp deal. Teams can sign up to 6 of these Exhibit 10 deals.

FWIW, Stewart was on the summer league roster but played 0 minutes. Not sure what the matter was.

If Elijah Stewart played zero minutes during the SL, he must’ve been earmarked for a contract already.

Wiretap now calls it a training camp contract.

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Exhibit 10 is a fully team controlled contract. We can choose for it to be a two way contract, or have him assigned to Ft Waynefully, no team contract.

It’s a training camp invite with essentially a guaranteed ticket to Ft Wayne. If he really excels, we can choose to convert to a 2 Way deal.

It’s an nba deal and fully guaranteed in the 1st year apparently.

Love that guy, love his face. Great positive energy. Pacer for a long long time.

I like this pick up

He looks capable of being a useful player with a decent career

He looked promising in the summer league. Right now I see no minutes for him. He would be best served getting as much time in Ft. Wayne as possible. If we pay Myles next year and bring in another high priced guy there could be rotation opportunity as soon as next year for Alize

is he a big 3 or a small 4? can he defend 3s and stretch 4s? there will be minutes for a defensive stopper slash rebounder.

not sure if a big name free agent helps or hurts his opportunity. I'm not even sure I want a big name although a Butler would be huge.

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Wizop wrote:is he a big 3 or a small 4? can he defend 3s and stretch 4s? there will be minutes for a defensive stopper slash rebounder.

not sure if a big name free agent helps or hurts his opportunity. I'm not even sure I want a big name although a Butler would be huge.

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Maybe not big name, but long term key piece is more of what I’m hoping for. Whatever that is is fine, but longer term would be ideal. Collison and Bogie have been good adds from last year, but likely for just two years. Longer would be what I’d hope for.

Scoot McGroot wrote:Longer would be what I’d hope for.

I had hopes going into draft. I was looking for a long term wing. sure didn't get that in round one but I take some comfort in the fact that the people taken right after Holiday weren't my targets either. guys the mocks had me liking dropped well into the 40s and it's rare that everyone is wrong.

Evans and McDermott look to be good fits in the short run. wish Evans were younger and McDermott more than a good backup. we've added shooting. have to hope we have enough offense to allow Bogies successor to be more of a defender and that Alize can grow into that role.

in general I think long term answers need to be drafted. I know last year showed otherwise.

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