Pacers sign veteran forward to fourth contract this season

As expected, veteran point guard Cory Joseph was waived to open up a spot on the 15-man roster for Johnson. Indiana acquired Joseph from Golden State along with $5.68M in cash earlier in the day.

Johnson has now signed four separate contracts with Indiana since the 2023-24 season began. He originally inked a non-guaranteed minimum-salary contract on Dec. 15, but was waived to accommodate the trade for Pascal Siakam a month later. Johnson returned to the Pacers on a pair of 10-day contracts and now that he’s ineligible to sign another 10-day pact, has finalized a rest-of-season deal with the club.

Johnson, who will turn 37 later this month, doesn’t see much action for the Pacers, having logged just 24 total minutes across five appearances so far this season. However, he’s a valued veteran presence in the locker room and brings some toughness and physicality to a relatively young team.

A prorated minimum-salary contract for Johnson will pay him $1,230,816 the rest of the way and will count toward Indiana’s cap for $777,703.

The Pacers now have a full 15-man roster, but they’re expected to open up a spot by waiving Furkan Korkmaz, who was acquired from Philadelphia on Thursday.