Kevin Seraphin Signs With the Indiana Pacers
By Ben Gibson
The Indiana Pacers have signed Kevin Seraphin, which means someone else on the roster is about to be cut (or traded).
Kevin Seraphin has filled the Indiana Pacers’ quota for Frenchmen as the 6’10 center joined the team late Thursday night.
The news of the 6-year NBA veteran’s signing was first reported by the Vertical’s Shams Charania.
Free agent Kevin Seraphin has agreed on a two-year deal with the Indiana Pacers, with first season guaranteed, sources tell The Vertical.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) September 2, 2016
Kevin Seraphin's two-year, $3.6M deal with Indiana includes a team option in the second year, sources tell The Vertical.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) September 2, 2016
The signing puts Indiana at 16 players on their NBA roster, meaning they’ll have to cut a player before the start of the season, or make a trade.
Pacers already at the roster maximum of 15, meaning they'll have to waive at least one player earning $1M+. https://t.co/dPNXV7mKwm
— Scott Agness (@ScottAgness) September 2, 2016
Who that might involve is anyone’s guess, but I’d speculate that Jeremy Evans, Rakeem Christmas, and Lavoy Allen are all candidates. But for now, we don’t have any indication of what the team’s plan is.
Last season Seraphin played with the New York Knicks, averaging 3.9 points and 2.6 rebounds in 11 minutes a game. He put up his best numbers in the 2012-13 season with the Washington Wizards when he averaged 9.1 points and 4.4 rebounds while playing just under 22 minutes a game.
The per game numbers don’t sound too impressive on their own, but in his career, he’s averaged 14 points and 8.1 rebounds per 36 minutes while shooting 48.3% from the field, which is respectable.
Seraphin helps Indiana’s rim defense out as he kept opponents to a 42.1 FG% last season in his limited minutes. Arguably Myles Turner was the only true rim protector for the Pacers before Seraphin’s signing, but if nothing else, they’ve added depth in the frontcourt with this move.
If you want to get on his good side, you better follow him on social media. He’s obsessed with it according to the Knicks’ Kyle O’Quinn. In an interview with Basketball Insiders’ Alex Kennedy, he revealed that he used that to his advantage when he played a prank on Seraphin last season.
"“Kevin Seraphin is obsessed with social media, so I unfollowed him on all of his accounts during last season,” O’Quinn with a laugh. “I just didn’t say anything and left him unfollowed for a few days. He was so confused. He really cares about that stuff, so he came to practice and was really concerned. It messed with his head. Carmelo played along and told him, ‘If a teammate unfollows you, he’s lost all trust in you. You need to fix this.’ Other teammates went along with it too. Kevin was confused for a few days and then at a team dinner in, I think, Utah, I gave a big speech in front of everyone. I talked about how mistakes were made, but I was willing to give Kevin a second chance and put my trust in him again and rebuild our bond. He was smiling like a kid in a candy shop. Then, everybody just busted up laughing. Jose Calderon was cracking up, sounding like a little kid. That’s when Kevin realized that I was messing with him the whole time and he started laughing too.“That was my favorite semi-prank this past year,” he said with a smile. “I haven’t done anything too crazy to teammates in New York. Yet.”"
How else did Seraphin respond to this? Via his Twitter account.
https://twitter.com/kevin_seraphin/status/771147318217306112
Seraphin was also receiving interest from FC Barcelona in Europe before he signed with Indiana.