NBA Free Agency 2019: 5 potential destinations for D’Angelo Russell
2. Indiana Pacers
Unlike the Magic and Suns, the Indiana Pacers wouldn’t have to do much work to welcome Russell into the fold.
If the Pacers renounce the rights to all of their free agents — including Bojan Bogdanovic, Thaddeus Young, Darren Collison, Wesley Matthews and Cory Joseph — they can carve out nearly $43.8 million in salary-cap space this summer. Even if they keep Bogdanovic’s $13.65 million cap hold on their books, they’d still have north of $30 million, which is more than enough to fit Russell’s $27.25 million max salary.
Indiana already has an All-Star combo guard in Victor Oladipo, but he’s working his way back from a torn quadriceps tendon he suffered in January. The Pacers’ offense sputtered after he went down, which led to their swift demise in the first round of the playoffs against the Boston Celtics.
Russell, who led the Nets in scoring this past season, could shoulder the offensive load in Indiana until Oladipo returns to form. He’s able to operate on or off the ball and is an increasingly potent 3-point shooter, which should make him able to operate effectively in tandem with Oladipo once the latter comes back.
According to SNY’s Ian Begley, “members of the Pacers organization are high on Russell,” which jibes with what Shams Charania of The Athletic reported in early June. However, it’s unclear whether they’d pursue Russell as a restricted free agent — running the risk of having their cap space tied up for two days while the Nets decide whether or not to match — or if they’ll only go after him if Brooklyn renounces him.
Russell would be a logical fit in Indiana, but with so many free agents to take care of this summer, the Pacers may decide to spread out their cap space rather than allocating most of it on one player.