The Indiana Pacers had historically been a team that avoided the restricted free agent market until last season when they signed Deandre Ayton to a 4-year, $133 million offer sheet that was then instantly matched by the Phoenix Suns.
It seemed as though this was a bit of a new beginning for the Pacers to be able to pursue all options in free agency but it seems that Herb Simon, Pacers owner and long-time detractor of going after RFAs from other teams, may have just made an exception for Ayton rather than a more permanent change in his philosophy.
On his podcast with guest John Hollinger, Zach Lowe said the Pacers sent signals around the league that they would not be going the offer sheet route this summer.
“Remember they were the Herb Simon doesn’t let us do offer sheets team,” Lowe said when Hollinger mentioned he thought Indiana might pursue PJ Washington before they made their moves, “and he made an exception for Ayton and it got matched. It was a little bit of a mess. I heard that they said around the league that they’re not doing offer sheets.”
Simon had avoided offer sheets at all costs before Ayton. In the 2019 off-season, the Pacers acquired RFA Malcolm Brogdon in a sign-and-trade with the Milwaukee Bucks after Simon called the Bucks ownership to work out a deal instead of signing him to an offer sheet. This cost the Pacers a first-round pick and two second-round picks when the Pacers could have signed him to an offer sheet with the same 4-year, $84 million deal that the Bucks may have been unlikely to match.
Larry Bird mentioned once during his tenure in the Pacers front office that they would not pursue any restricted free agents because “that’s not Simon’s style.” The Pacers even seem to avoid being on the other side of offer sheets like when their own RFA Roy Hibbert initially looked like he would sign an offer sheet with the Trail Blazers but then instead just signed the exact same 4-year, $58 million deal with Indiana instead of going through the matching process.
While the Pacers potentially could have tried a sign-and-trade situation for one of those RFAs to avoid an offer sheet this off-season, they decided to go another route this summer. We’ll just have to wait and see as the years go by if the Pacers go back to avoiding offer sheets completely.
The new salary floor rules could also make it more difficult to go after restricted free agents with offer sheets. Because teams have 48 hours to match RFA deals, a team’s cap space is hold hostage until the other team makes a decision on it. With how quickly things move in free agency, that means teams rarely go after RFAs in the first few days because if the deal gets matched then those teams will be left with just scraps remaining available as free agents. Since teams have to make to the salary floor before the season starts or risk an unhappy owner by losing them a luxury tax payment, they would probably prefer to use space on unrestricted free agents or trades so they know they’re going to reach the salary floor. If they run out of options after a matched offer sheet, you could see teams offering large salaries to veteran guys who are signed as leaders in the locker room and rarely see the court or trying to trade for contracts other teams no longer want.
Hollinger and Lowe both had the Pacers as winners in free agency and liked their acquisitions of Bruce Brown and Obi Toppin.
iPacers 