Pacers reached an agreement to sign a free agent forward/center Larry Nance Jr. on a one-year deal, sources told ESPN’s Shams Charania (Twitter link).
While Charania is calling this a $4 million deal, it appears that figure is rounded up—Circle City Spin’s Tony East tweeted that it will be a minimum-salary contract. Nance will earn approximately $3.88 million, with Indiana topping out at approximately $2.45 million.
Nance, 33, is an 11-year NBA veteran. He has appeared in 581 regular-season games for five teams since entering the league as the 27th overall pick in 2015. A reliable frontcourt rotation player for most of those 11 seasons, Nance played in just 59 games over the last two years in Atlanta and Cleveland due to health issues.
Nance suffered from hand and knee injuries in the 2024/25 season and then missed almost six weeks with a calf strain in the first half of the 25/26 season. Even after his return, the Ohio native played a limited role for the Cavaliers, setting new career highs in points (3.7), rebounds (2.7) and minutes (12.8) per game, as well as field goal percentage (41.9%) in 35 games.
The Pacers’ commitment to Nance suggests they believe he still has something left in the tank, although we’ll have to wait to see if the team gives him a fully guaranteed contract.
The club is technically too close to its first cap hard cap to add another standard contract right now, notes Yossi Gozlan of The Third Apron (Twitter link), so bringing Nance to the team would require a trade or cut unless he signs a non-guaranteed Schedule 10 contract that won’t count toward the cap or cap.
Center Micah Potter is currently on a non-guaranteed minimum salary contract for 2026/27, while Quenton JacksonThe player’s minimum salary is only partially guaranteed at $275,000 for next week, so one of the two would likely be the odd man out if the Pacers do have to take a pay cut.