Rakeem Christmas‘ tenure with the Indiana Pacers is coming to an end, according to Scott Agness of Vigilant Sports.
After two seasons with the Indiana Pacers, Rakeem Christmas will be waived by 5 p.m. today. After playing in just one single game during his rookie year, Christmas suited up for 29 games this season. He only played in a few summer league games this year due to suffering a sprained ankle.
The Pacers currently have a logjam of big men, so this move makes sense. Counting Christmas, the Pacers had 9 power forwards and centers on the roster. It would have been extremely hard for him to see the floor often, even with the Pacers starting a rebuild.
Sadly, this means no more Christmas puns from Pacers fans.
BREAKING: Kevin Pritchard cancels Christmas.
— 8 Points, 9 Seconds (@8pts9secs) July 6, 2017
Rakeem did have a solid run this season. When Al Jefferson missed games due to injury, Christmas took the backup center role and played fairly well. His teammates were always telling him his time would come, and indeed it did, it just didn’t last long.
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Christmas will now have to fight to make another NBA roster. He’s an athletic big man who sets hard screens, so he should have no problems at least getting a training camp invite elsewhere. Through 30 career games, Rakeem Christmas averaged 2.1 points and 1.9 rebounds per game. He shot 44.2 percent from the field, and 72.4 percent from the free-throw line.
This move puts an end to the oldest active transaction tree for the Pacers.
As for the Pacers, this will clear up another roster spot. They have officially waived Monta Ellis, so there’s another roster spot freed up. Despite all the big men on the roster, the Pacers have rumored interest in unrestricted free agent Kelly Olynyk, according to Sam Amick. It will be interesting to see if the Pacers do indeed attempt to get his signature with some freed up cap space.
Next: Pacers hedging their bet on Edmond Sumner
The Pacers now have 13 roster spots, assuming they sign rookie Ike Anigbogu soon.