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In case the crying laughing emojis LeBron James sent Tyrese Haliburton when the Pacers All-Star point guard tried to recruit him weren't enough to make the point, Pacers general manager Chad Buchanan closed to the door on any hope that Indiana might be able to land the NBA's all-time leading scorer.
Buchanan said on the Setting the Pace podcast with Alex Golden and Michael Facci that the Pacers did make a pitch to James' agent Rich Paul -- just as he presumes every team in the NBA did. However, Buchanan says he has no indication that the Pacers are still in competition for James' services.
"If you're expecting the LeBron to Pacers announcement to come, it's not coming," Buchanan said on the podcast. "I don't want to break everybody's hearts. Much respect to LeBron as a player, obviously, and to Rich Paul. I think every team made their pitch to Rich as to their situation, what they could offer, as did we. We also know that he's narrowed it down to some other teams. Hopefully he stays in the West. I don't know where he's going to end up, but I can tell you it won't be in Indiana, unfortunately."
Buchanan's appearance on Setting the Pace represented his first public comments since the NBA calendar flipped over and free agency began. The 30-minute first part of the podcast was posted late Tuesday and outside of the brief discussion on James, it focused on the players the Pacers have brought in or kept so far this summer. Some highlights from the discussion follow.
The Pacers first and biggest signing of the summer was forward Kelly Oubre Jr. to a two-year deal worth approximately $17 million. The Pacers had to use the non-taxpayer mid-level exception to sign Oubre and for that reason they are hard capped at the first luxury tax apron and have little salary cap flexibility beyond that. However, the Pacers viewed quality wing depth as their most important need and invested in Oubre to add it.
The 6-8 Oubre started 150 games for the 76ers over the last three seasons and averaged 14.9 points, 5.4 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.3 steals per game. He averaged 14.1 points per game in 2025-26 and posted career-bests in 3-point percentage (.360) and effective field goal percentage (.546). The 30-year-old could push Aaron Nesmith for the starting small forward job but could also add two-way production to the second unit.
"We felt good about our starting five," Buchanan said. "We felt good about a couple of guys on our bench, but we didn't feel as strong about the depth at the wing position. As we went through free agency, we looked at some different trades to see if there was something that made sense. The more we talked through things, talked to other teams, talked to agents, it felt like Kelly was a name we kept coming back to for various reasons. We're a team that's trying to win now. We're trying to compete next year at the highest level. We need win-now players. Kelly's been in the league for a long time. He's established himself as a very solid two-way wing player that's contributed for different teams for different levels."
Oubre has averaged double-figures for each of the last nine seasons and he's also averaged 1.0 steals per game or more for each of the past nine seasons. He hasn't been the most efficient scorer, but he goes hard to the rim and he's a willing shooter, making 1,068 career 3-pointers at a 32.7% clip.
"He impacts the game on the defensive side of the ball as much as he can on the offensive side, which was appealing to us," Buchanan said. "Last year was probably the best shooting year of his career. We think there's more room from that regard for Kelly. I think he'll see more open shots created in our system than he's probably seen in his career. Optimistic that he'll be able to knock down shots for us, but also provide some presence as a defender, being able to guard multiple positions, which is important for us. As we face in the east some of these great bigger scoring guards and scoring wings, Kelly provides us another option besides Aaron and Drew (Andrew Nembhard) specifically and Jarace (Walker) to a certain degree to put on some of these bigger guards."
While the Oubre signing seemed like an obvious fit for the Pacers' roster needs, the logic of signing Larry Nance Jr. was a little less clear, particularly when paired with the waiving of center Micah Potter.
The 28-year-old Potter averaged 9.7 points and 5.0 rebounds per game and shot 51.5% from the floor and 42.3% from 3-point range last season after the Pacers signed him out of the G League on a non-guaranteed contract in late December. The 33-year-old Nance averaged 3.7 points and 2.7 rebounds on 41.9% shooting and 33.3% 3-point shooting, playing just 35 games for Cavaliers. The scoring, rebounding and field goal percentage figures were all career lows for Nance, who is averaging 7.5 points and 5.9 rebounds per game, and shooting 53.5% from the floor and 35.2% from 3-point range for his 11-year career.
The Pacers created about $400,000 in room under the first apron in the move because Potter's deal was non-guaranteed but worth $2.8 million and Nance's veteran minimum contract only counts as about $2.4 million as a cap hit even though he'll be paid nearly $3.9 million. However, Buchanan said there were also basketball reasons for the move.
"Larry brings us some defensive versatility, which I think is important with our bench," Buchanan said. "We've always had, with Rick (Carlisle) and our system, we've had the ability to score. Jay Huff and Larry as our backup five options, Larry can slide over and guard some 4s at times. He's got a lot of experience as well. I think our coaches felt really comfortable with his basketball IQ, his experience, and just his personality felt like a really good fit with our locker room as well. Larry really had targeted us, wanted to be here with the Pacers and I think he's very motivated to have a bounce-back season. I think he would be the first to admit that last year didn't go the way he hoped it would. He's very motivated to come in and fit in and play well for us this season."
Buchanan said there's wide-open competition between Nance and Huff for backup minutes behind starter Ivica Zubac at center and also says that forward Obi Toppin will get minutes at the 5.
"With what we had financially to work with, we were kind of limited in what we could go after at the backup 5," Buchanan said. "As we looked at our option, Larry was our best option that was gettable. We also know he's not surefire. He's gotta come in and earn it. Jay Huff has gotta earn those backup minutes as well. You have Obi as an option to come in and play some backup 5. There's different looks that our coaches could utilize at the backup center spots. There's might be some nights where our coaches will value the defensive versatility in Larry as opposed to the shooting and rim protection that Jay provides. It's probably going to be night-to-night who plays there, but heading into camp it's an open competition at this point."
The Pacers made two decisions to narrow what was a five-man competition for three two-way contract spots down to at least a three-man competition for two spots if not a two-man competition for one.
The Pacers waived two-way contract guard Taelon Peter and re-signed forward Jalen Slawson -- who finished last season on a two-way deal but was a restricted free agent. Forward Kobe Brown and guard Ethan Thompson are also under two-way contracts with Brown having signed one just before the start of NBA Summer League. Second-round pick Braden Smith -- a Purdue All-American and an Indiana Mr. Basketball at Westfield High School -- agreed to a two-way contract when he was drafted but one has not been signed.
The Pacers could technically keep all four players. They have one standard contract still remaining that they could use to sign a player on the rookie minimum. They are about $2.2 million under the first apron which isn't enough to sign a player to the veteran minimum but is enough to sign a player to the rookie minimum.
Buchanan said the Pacers have not yet finalized a decision on those spots.
"We're very, very tight to the first apron where we're hard-capped now," Buchanan said. "We have different options to fill that 15th spot. We're still kind of making that decision, making some choices at the back end of the roster, the 15th spot and the two-way spots. Braden is a guy we valued in the draft for his playmaking, his IQ and his toughness. We haven't decided exactly what we're gonna do now because we have several guys that we like and we want to keep. We're trying to figure out what's the best avenue to keep all those guys in play for us."
Buchanan said the Pacers were thrilled with the growth they saw from Slawson, who they originally brought in on an Exhibit 10 contract last summer and promoted to a two-way in February. In Summer League, he led the Pacers with 20.8 points per game and recorded 16 blocks, most of any player in Summer League. He was productive in his action with the Pacers down the stretch and he earned first-team G League All-Defensive honors for his work with the Noblesville Boom.
"The development and the growth that we saw throughout the season with the Boom was something that we really noticed and really brought to light that this was a player who was really starting to blossom," Buchanan said. "... He got versatility as a defender. I don't know if I've every seen a guy with a knack for chase-down blocks like he has. He might be, next to LeBron, the best in the world. He's got a real knack for that and the rest of his game is piecing together too. His shooting is developing. His decision-making can be up and down, but we like his ability to make things happen."
Buchanan also described the process that led to the Pacers keeping Brown on a two-way contract. Brown was acquired as part of the trade with the Clippers for Zubac. Brown averaged 9.4 points, 4.9 rebounds and 2.0 assists for the Pacers and shot 50.3% from the floor and 43.3% from 3-point range. He hit more 3-pointers with the Pacers in 27 games (39) than he did in 2 1/2 seasons with the Clippers (33).
"We were pleasantly surprised with a lot of the things he was doing," Buchanan said. "We felt like this was a pretty good fit, our system, our coaches' trust in Kobe. As we looked at our roster, No. 1 our roster spots, where we were at in the cap. we knew we were going to have some limitations on what we could probably offer at that position. We talked early on with Kobe's representatives about, 'Hey, we really would like to retain Kobe and have him back with us, but we don't know if we'll have the flexibility to make that a standard guaranteed spot. We'd love to have him on a two-way if that's an option on your end.' ... I think Kobe felt comfortable in his time here with us and wanted to continue on that path. We're excited to have him back."
Dustin Dopirak covers the Pacers all season. Get more coverage on IndyStarTV and with the Pacers Insider newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Pacers GM Chad Buchanan address Pacers-LeBron James speculation
Continue reading...
Buchanan said on the Setting the Pace podcast with Alex Golden and Michael Facci that the Pacers did make a pitch to James' agent Rich Paul -- just as he presumes every team in the NBA did. However, Buchanan says he has no indication that the Pacers are still in competition for James' services.
"If you're expecting the LeBron to Pacers announcement to come, it's not coming," Buchanan said on the podcast. "I don't want to break everybody's hearts. Much respect to LeBron as a player, obviously, and to Rich Paul. I think every team made their pitch to Rich as to their situation, what they could offer, as did we. We also know that he's narrowed it down to some other teams. Hopefully he stays in the West. I don't know where he's going to end up, but I can tell you it won't be in Indiana, unfortunately."
Buchanan's appearance on Setting the Pace represented his first public comments since the NBA calendar flipped over and free agency began. The 30-minute first part of the podcast was posted late Tuesday and outside of the brief discussion on James, it focused on the players the Pacers have brought in or kept so far this summer. Some highlights from the discussion follow.
Kelly Oubre Jr. gives Pacers the wing depth they wanted
The Pacers first and biggest signing of the summer was forward Kelly Oubre Jr. to a two-year deal worth approximately $17 million. The Pacers had to use the non-taxpayer mid-level exception to sign Oubre and for that reason they are hard capped at the first luxury tax apron and have little salary cap flexibility beyond that. However, the Pacers viewed quality wing depth as their most important need and invested in Oubre to add it.
The 6-8 Oubre started 150 games for the 76ers over the last three seasons and averaged 14.9 points, 5.4 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.3 steals per game. He averaged 14.1 points per game in 2025-26 and posted career-bests in 3-point percentage (.360) and effective field goal percentage (.546). The 30-year-old could push Aaron Nesmith for the starting small forward job but could also add two-way production to the second unit.
"We felt good about our starting five," Buchanan said. "We felt good about a couple of guys on our bench, but we didn't feel as strong about the depth at the wing position. As we went through free agency, we looked at some different trades to see if there was something that made sense. The more we talked through things, talked to other teams, talked to agents, it felt like Kelly was a name we kept coming back to for various reasons. We're a team that's trying to win now. We're trying to compete next year at the highest level. We need win-now players. Kelly's been in the league for a long time. He's established himself as a very solid two-way wing player that's contributed for different teams for different levels."
Oubre has averaged double-figures for each of the last nine seasons and he's also averaged 1.0 steals per game or more for each of the past nine seasons. He hasn't been the most efficient scorer, but he goes hard to the rim and he's a willing shooter, making 1,068 career 3-pointers at a 32.7% clip.
"He impacts the game on the defensive side of the ball as much as he can on the offensive side, which was appealing to us," Buchanan said. "Last year was probably the best shooting year of his career. We think there's more room from that regard for Kelly. I think he'll see more open shots created in our system than he's probably seen in his career. Optimistic that he'll be able to knock down shots for us, but also provide some presence as a defender, being able to guard multiple positions, which is important for us. As we face in the east some of these great bigger scoring guards and scoring wings, Kelly provides us another option besides Aaron and Drew (Andrew Nembhard) specifically and Jarace (Walker) to a certain degree to put on some of these bigger guards."
Pacers' liked Larry Nance Jr.'s defensive versatility
While the Oubre signing seemed like an obvious fit for the Pacers' roster needs, the logic of signing Larry Nance Jr. was a little less clear, particularly when paired with the waiving of center Micah Potter.
The 28-year-old Potter averaged 9.7 points and 5.0 rebounds per game and shot 51.5% from the floor and 42.3% from 3-point range last season after the Pacers signed him out of the G League on a non-guaranteed contract in late December. The 33-year-old Nance averaged 3.7 points and 2.7 rebounds on 41.9% shooting and 33.3% 3-point shooting, playing just 35 games for Cavaliers. The scoring, rebounding and field goal percentage figures were all career lows for Nance, who is averaging 7.5 points and 5.9 rebounds per game, and shooting 53.5% from the floor and 35.2% from 3-point range for his 11-year career.
The Pacers created about $400,000 in room under the first apron in the move because Potter's deal was non-guaranteed but worth $2.8 million and Nance's veteran minimum contract only counts as about $2.4 million as a cap hit even though he'll be paid nearly $3.9 million. However, Buchanan said there were also basketball reasons for the move.
"Larry brings us some defensive versatility, which I think is important with our bench," Buchanan said. "We've always had, with Rick (Carlisle) and our system, we've had the ability to score. Jay Huff and Larry as our backup five options, Larry can slide over and guard some 4s at times. He's got a lot of experience as well. I think our coaches felt really comfortable with his basketball IQ, his experience, and just his personality felt like a really good fit with our locker room as well. Larry really had targeted us, wanted to be here with the Pacers and I think he's very motivated to have a bounce-back season. I think he would be the first to admit that last year didn't go the way he hoped it would. He's very motivated to come in and fit in and play well for us this season."
Buchanan said there's wide-open competition between Nance and Huff for backup minutes behind starter Ivica Zubac at center and also says that forward Obi Toppin will get minutes at the 5.
"With what we had financially to work with, we were kind of limited in what we could go after at the backup 5," Buchanan said. "As we looked at our option, Larry was our best option that was gettable. We also know he's not surefire. He's gotta come in and earn it. Jay Huff has gotta earn those backup minutes as well. You have Obi as an option to come in and play some backup 5. There's different looks that our coaches could utilize at the backup center spots. There's might be some nights where our coaches will value the defensive versatility in Larry as opposed to the shooting and rim protection that Jay provides. It's probably going to be night-to-night who plays there, but heading into camp it's an open competition at this point."
Pacers still mulling two-way contract options
The Pacers made two decisions to narrow what was a five-man competition for three two-way contract spots down to at least a three-man competition for two spots if not a two-man competition for one.
The Pacers waived two-way contract guard Taelon Peter and re-signed forward Jalen Slawson -- who finished last season on a two-way deal but was a restricted free agent. Forward Kobe Brown and guard Ethan Thompson are also under two-way contracts with Brown having signed one just before the start of NBA Summer League. Second-round pick Braden Smith -- a Purdue All-American and an Indiana Mr. Basketball at Westfield High School -- agreed to a two-way contract when he was drafted but one has not been signed.
The Pacers could technically keep all four players. They have one standard contract still remaining that they could use to sign a player on the rookie minimum. They are about $2.2 million under the first apron which isn't enough to sign a player to the veteran minimum but is enough to sign a player to the rookie minimum.
Buchanan said the Pacers have not yet finalized a decision on those spots.
"We're very, very tight to the first apron where we're hard-capped now," Buchanan said. "We have different options to fill that 15th spot. We're still kind of making that decision, making some choices at the back end of the roster, the 15th spot and the two-way spots. Braden is a guy we valued in the draft for his playmaking, his IQ and his toughness. We haven't decided exactly what we're gonna do now because we have several guys that we like and we want to keep. We're trying to figure out what's the best avenue to keep all those guys in play for us."
Buchanan said the Pacers were thrilled with the growth they saw from Slawson, who they originally brought in on an Exhibit 10 contract last summer and promoted to a two-way in February. In Summer League, he led the Pacers with 20.8 points per game and recorded 16 blocks, most of any player in Summer League. He was productive in his action with the Pacers down the stretch and he earned first-team G League All-Defensive honors for his work with the Noblesville Boom.
"The development and the growth that we saw throughout the season with the Boom was something that we really noticed and really brought to light that this was a player who was really starting to blossom," Buchanan said. "... He got versatility as a defender. I don't know if I've every seen a guy with a knack for chase-down blocks like he has. He might be, next to LeBron, the best in the world. He's got a real knack for that and the rest of his game is piecing together too. His shooting is developing. His decision-making can be up and down, but we like his ability to make things happen."
Buchanan also described the process that led to the Pacers keeping Brown on a two-way contract. Brown was acquired as part of the trade with the Clippers for Zubac. Brown averaged 9.4 points, 4.9 rebounds and 2.0 assists for the Pacers and shot 50.3% from the floor and 43.3% from 3-point range. He hit more 3-pointers with the Pacers in 27 games (39) than he did in 2 1/2 seasons with the Clippers (33).
"We were pleasantly surprised with a lot of the things he was doing," Buchanan said. "We felt like this was a pretty good fit, our system, our coaches' trust in Kobe. As we looked at our roster, No. 1 our roster spots, where we were at in the cap. we knew we were going to have some limitations on what we could probably offer at that position. We talked early on with Kobe's representatives about, 'Hey, we really would like to retain Kobe and have him back with us, but we don't know if we'll have the flexibility to make that a standard guaranteed spot. We'd love to have him on a two-way if that's an option on your end.' ... I think Kobe felt comfortable in his time here with us and wanted to continue on that path. We're excited to have him back."
Dustin Dopirak covers the Pacers all season. Get more coverage on IndyStarTV and with the Pacers Insider newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Pacers GM Chad Buchanan address Pacers-LeBron James speculation
Continue reading...
