Kendall Brown was the last of the Indiana Pacers rookies to be signed to a contract. Brown’s contract will be different than his fellow draftees in Bennedict Mathurin and Andrew Nembhard. Brown will sign a two-way deal, whereas Mathurin and Nembhard are standard contracts.
The Indiana Pacers plan to sign Kendall Brown to a two-way contract
Brown was the 48th pick in the 2022 NBA draft, and the Pacers were aggressive in acquiring him. They traded a 2026 second-round pick and cash to Minnesota in exchange for the pick used on Brown for his draft rights. The Front Office spoke highly of him after the draft concluded.
The #Pacers plan to sign Kendall Brown to a two-way contract, per league source.
— Zach Pearson (@zapearsonNBA) July 21, 2022
Signing a two-way contract will allow two things to happen:
- With depth available ahead of him, the 19-year-old will be able to get in-game experience in Fort Wayne with the Mad Ants.
- The Pacers have a roster spot to fill.
The Pacers G-League affiliate was busy last season, as multiple players of theirs were poached either to join the Pacers squad or to another NBA team. Justin Anderson, Terry Taylor, Duane Washington Jr, and Keifer Sykes all got call-ups, with a few others last season.
Brown can play and take advantage of the in-game experience which will help build his confidence. Terry Taylor took full advantage of his opportunity in Fort Wayne last season and it earned him a multi-year contract with the Pacers.
According to the G-League website, “NBA teams may have up to two players under NBA Two-Way contracts who will spend the bulk of the season in the NBA G League and not more than 45 days with their NBA team”.
Here is a breakdown of how two-way contract players will be compensated for the 2022-23 season:
ESPN Sources: NBA two-way contracts will remain ½ the rookie minimum contracts for the 2022-2023 season -- $502K with a limitation of 50 regular-season games and no playoff eligibility.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 18, 2022
What does that mean for the roster going forward?
It means the team has an open roster spot to fill after Andrew Nembhard signed his contract on Wednesday, the team has 14 players of 15 under a standard contract. The team waived Duane Washington Jr. and is allowed to sign him again since he cleared waivers and is unclaimed.
The other option, of course, is to keep that spot open for free agent Lance Stephenson to return to his team after showing an improved style of play. There isn’t much of a need for what he can provide on the court – Indiana has three point guards that would play ahead of Lance. You have to ask why not?
This year’s team is about building, learning, and establishing a new culture in Indiana with these young players. Who knows Indiana culture better than Lance Stephenson? He was a part of Pacers teams that had success in the early 2010s and has a lot of NBA experience that could help the younger players. That is a decision for the Front Office to make.
Brown can develop his game on this two-way deal, and there is no better place to do that than with the Fort Wayne Mad Ants. Brown averaged 9.4 points a game and grabbed 3.8 rebounds and 2.0 assists in 21 minutes a game in the summer league.