David Nwaba discloses that the Indiana Pacers offered him a two-year contract

The Indiana Pacers went after a wide variety of free agents this summer. According to David Nwaba, one of those players was… David Nwaba.

Apparently, the Indiana Pacers made a contract offer to David Nwaba this summer.

The Pacers were interested in tons of guys this summer. We know they signed Tyreke Evans, Doug McDermott, and Kyle O’Quinn. We also know they were interested in JJ Redick, as he announced on his podcast that they made him an offer.

Outside of that, it is hard to know much. The front office does a pretty good job of keeping the rumors related to who the team is pursuing on the hush-hush, so until they actually sign someone it’s hard to see what their strategy is.

But like JJ Redick revealed on his podcast, we can find out who the Pacers pursued if the players themselves admit that Indiana offered them a deal. And that is exactly what happened with Cleveland Cavaliers forward David Nwaba, as he told reporters yesterday that the Indiana Pacers offered him a two-year deal:

“Indiana wanted me for a two-year deal, but Cleveland seemed like a better fit” Nwaba told reporters after Cavs practice. “Young guys as well as veterans, I thought [Cleveland] was a perfect fit, and I knew I was going to get more playing time”.

Nwaba is betting on himself. Taking a one-year deal with the Cavs instead of a two-year deal with Indiana suggests he wants to prove that he is a good player this year and become a free agent again next summer – with a chance to get a more lucrative offer. If he took a two-year deal with Indiana, he could not have done that.

Additionally, Nwaba plays on the wing. He would have probably been the fifth wing on the Pacers roster, behind Evans, McDermott, Bojan Bogdanovic, and Victor Oladipo. Playing time would have been scarce for Nwaba, making Indiana a tough place for him to bet on himself.

Nwaba signed with the Cavs on August 1st (though it wasn’t official until September), meaning he was a free agent for over a month. My official guess is that the Pacers offered him a two-year deal at the minimum after signing all of their other free agents, but Nwaba wanted either a one year deal or more money, and the Pacers could offer neither.

The Pacers ultimately didn’t end up with Nwaba, so this is all speculation. They could have offered him some of (or all of) the room exception in early July, but Nwaba turned it down because it was longer than he wanted. Who knows. Either way, he didn’t end up a Pacer, so it doesn’t matter. But it is interesting to see the type of players the Indiana Pacers went after this summer.