Pacers announce signing of veteran forward

The Pacers have re-signed veteran forward James Johnson, but this time he’ll receive a 10-day contract instead of a rest-of-season deal, the team announced in a press release.

Indiana waived Johnson a couple of days ago in order to create roster space to acquire fourth-year guard Kira Lewis, who was immediately flipped to Toronto as a salary-matching piece for two-time All-Star Pascal Siakam. The Pacers had two open 15-man roster spots after sending out three players (Bruce Brown and Jordan Nwora were the others) for Siakam, and one will be going to Johnson.

The move was expected, as Tony East of SI.com reported shortly after Johnson was released that the team planned to bring him back if he cleared waivers.

Inking Johnson to a 10-day contract will give Indiana roster flexibility in the event of more trades ahead of the Feb. 8 deadline. As our tracker shows, the 15-year veteran is the sixth player to sign a 10-day deal this season.

Technically, the Pacers are paying Johnson twice right now, as his previous contract was guaranteed after he remained on the roster through the cutdown deadline earlier this month. The dead-money cap hit for that deal is about $1.4M.

Johnson, who has played for 10 different NBA teams, averaged 4.8 minutes per game across five appearances in 2023-24. The 36-year-old played 18 games for the Pacers last season.

His on-court contributions have been modest the past two seasons, but clearly the Pacers value Johnson’s leadership and professionalism, which is why they keep bringing him back.