Indiana Pacers salary series: The two-way contract guys
By Tony East
Contracts can be confusing. To help make them easier, we will break down the monetary situation of every player on the Indiana Pacers roster and what to expect going forward. In this edition, we take a look at the guys on two-way contracts: Edmond Sumner and CJ Wilcox.
In the inaugural season of the two-way contract, the Indiana Pacers were borderline pioneers with the way they used the new type of agreement.
They signed Edmond Sumner to a two-year two-way deal using one of the slots. Sumner, the 52nd pick of the 2017 draft, needed quite a bit of time to rehab. Locking him up on a unique two-year deal allowed the team to use their NBA roster spots with an actual contributor while having Sumner be a member of the organization through his rehab and development.
The other two-way contract was used on Alex Poythress, who stepped in ably in many sticky situations for the Indiana Pacers. In late December he proved his value across a few games for the team and got his contract promoted from a two-way to a full NBA contract.
Ben Moore replaced him and received a two-way contract for the rest of the season. He only played nine minutes in total, but he earned some development time practicing with the pros.
Between promoting a player, rehabbing another, and developing a third, the Pacers used the two-way contract in a variety of ways last season.
With the 2018-19 season just around the corner, the Pacers have given their two-way contracts to Edmond Sumner and CJ Wilcox. Going into more detail about two-way contracts can tell us more about the present and future of those two players, both on the court and in their bank account.