The Indiana Pacers waived Rodney Stuckey on Wednesday according to the Vertical’s Shams Charania, opening up a roster spot.
The Indiana Pacers aren’t going to sit around and wait for their roster to get healthy as they make a push for the playoffs. Unfortunately for Rodney Stuckey, that means he is getting the boot.
The Vertical’s Shams Carania is reporting that the Indiana Pacers waived Rodney Stuckey this morning. Stuckey was averaging 7.2 points, 2.2 assists, and 2.2 rebounds a game, but was often injured.
Immediately, this means the Pacers now have room to sign another player as they had 15 NBA contracts before today’s move. For this summer, this means they’ve shed Stuckey’s $7 million salary and can use that towards free agency. They will pay out what they owe for this year’s salary, though.
The Pacers are waiving guard Rodney Stuckey, league sources tell @TheVertical. Indiana had April 10 date to release before Stuckey's option.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) March 29, 2017
Last week Josh Padmore went over this possibility and Stuckey’s decline as a player. Whether this was going to happen or not, his injury along with two other rotation players going down might have forced the Pacers front office into the move.
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One assumes Larry Bird and Kevin Pritchard talked to some of the players about this move before making it. Basketball is a business, but loyalty and respect are still currency in the league. Unless Stuckey was disliked (seems unlikely), a move like this can become a point of contention.
However, with the length of Stuckey’s injury (four to six weeks) and the team trying to make the playoffs, this might play better among the players than just a cold, heartless, only for the money-type of cut. We’ll have to wait to see if there is any public reaction to the move from the players.
The question is now who do they sign with open spot? Do they bring back an old friend in the form of Tyler Hansbrough or Lance Stephenson? Or do they hope to find something new from the rest of the free agency pool?
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Perhaps they do nothing. As mentioned above, the move saves Indiana money that they can put towards free agency this summer. They can sign a player to a short-term deal now and still have that, but this could have been an accounting move as much as a basketball decision.