A key Indiana Pacers free agent is on the cusp of agreeing to a new deal with a surprise club.
Indiana is down two NBA Finals starters already heading into the 2025-26 season.
Two-time All-NBA Third Team point guard Tyrese Haliburton tore his Achilles tendon early in an eventual Game 7 Finals loss against the Oklahoma City Thunder. The 6-foot-5 Iowa State product has already been ruled out for the entire 2025-26 season.
With Haliburton sidelined all year, 3-and-D starting center Myles Turner opted to ditch Indiana after 10 seasons, inking a four-season, $108.9 million deal with the Milwaukee Bucks.
Now, the Pacers intend to replace Turner with a variety of backup-level big men.
But one apparently is headed out the door.
Free agent floor-spacing center Thomas Bryant is eyeing a potential new contract with Greek EuroLeague club Panathinaikos, reports Kevin Martorano of Sportando.
The 6-foot-10 big man, never much of a rim protector, did have some big playoff moments, perhaps highlighted by a red-hot third quarter against the favored New York Knicks in a closeout Game 6 Eastern Conference Finals game — and series — victory.
Bryant, 27, is expected to net a contract with Panathinaikos in the range of $3 million annually, according to TeleSport.rs.
The journeyman big has suited up for five NBA teams since 2017-18: the Los Angeles Lakers (twice), the Washington Wizards, the Denver Nuggets, the Miami Heat, and most recently Indiana. Bryant won the 2023 championship as a deep-bench backup for Denver.
The Pacers traded for Bryant early into the season, after normal backups Isaiah Jackson and James Wiseman suffered season-ending Achilles tendon tears of their own. Indiana has since re-signed both Jackson and Wiseman, and traded for Jay Huff.
That triumvirate now seems poised to compete for center minutes as part of a piecemeal Turner replacement strategy.
In 56 games with Indiana last season (eight starts), Bryant notched averages of 6.9 points on .515.321/.830 shooting splits, 3.9 boards, 0.9 assists, 0.5 blocks and 0.5 steals a night. He’s a career 34.6 percent 3-point shooter on 1.5 triple tries a night, not bad for a big guy averaging just 17.7 minutes per.
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