Indiana Pacers To Waive Mac McClung, Sign Veteran Monte Morris

INDIANAPOLIS – The Indiana Pacers plan to sign guard Monte Morris to a contract as they search for help at point guard. They are dealing with multiple injuries at the position early in the season.

Originally, the Pacers planned to bring in Morris ahead of training camp. But he had a calf injury, so the team pivoted to other point guard options and got a look at Delon Wright and Cam Payne. Both players didn’t work out, though, and were waived before the regular season started.

Indiana entered the campaign with Andrew Nembhard and RayJ Dennis (two-way) as their healthy point guards. But Nembhard got hurt during the team’s season opening outing, meaning they were without Tyrese Haliburton, T.J. McConnell, Nembhard, and Quenton Jackson (two-way) all at the same position after just one game. Jackson returned a few games into the season but is now injured again.

As a result, the Pacers have been forced to be creative. Ben Sheppard and Taelon Peter have both gotten run at point guard with mixed results – many ball handlers on the Pacers roster have explained that the team’s system is, effectively, the point guard rather than a specific player.

“It’s completely our system. I think our system gives not just me, but everybody, freedom to kind of just play with pace [and] be who you are as a player,” Jackson said earlier this week of the team’s style. He scored 25 points over the weekend in a win over the Golden State Warriors, the Pacers only win so far.

Why are the Pacers signing Monte Morris?

But in the team’s next game, Jackson went down with a hamstring injury. That left Dennis as the team’s only healthy natural point guard, and even he is dealing with a back injury. They haven’t been able to initiate their offense in the way they hoped.

“The lack of playmaking at the point position is a factor in the kind of shots that we’re getting,” Pacers head coach Rick Carlsile said after the Pacers loss to the Brooklyn Nets on Wednesday night.

As a result, the team is bringing in Morris. They desperately need someone with his skillset.

In order to sign the veteran Morris, the Pacers had to create a roster spot. To do so, the team is waiving guard Mac McClung, who the team signed late last month.

McClung appeared in three games for the Pacers. He averaged 6.3 points per game but made just 38.9% of his shot attempts. His defense was good enough for someone of his size, but Indiana needs a different skillset with that roster spot.

That means McClung, one of only two Pacers players who was on a non-guaranteed contract (Tony Bradley, a rotation center, being the other) was the most likely candidate to be waived. He scored 12 points against the Atlanta Hawks last weekend.

McClung will go through waivers and, assuming he clears the process in two days without being claimed, will ultimately carry a cap charge of $164k for the Pacers (should he be waived today). His two-year agreement with the team carried no salary guarantees.

Morris, meanwhile, joins on a deal that, based on the prorated minimum salary at this point in the season, will come with a cap hit of just under $2.1 million. While presently unknown, it is likely his contract is also not guaranteed.

The 30-year old guard was a participant in a free agent workout the Pacers held last week in Dallas. McClung was involved, too, as was forward Cody Martin – and Martin signed a 10-day hardship contract yesterday.

Morris averaged 5.2 points and 1.6 assists per game last season with the Phoenix Suns. His caretaker skills, which show up most obviously with his low turnover rate, will go a long way for a Pacers team that needs to dominate the possession battle given their current efficiency struggles.

“Listening to our coaches, having more ball handlers and more playmaking is important to them,” Pacers Vice President of Basketball Operations Ted Wu said before the season. That is what inspired the team to bring in a third point guard, and Morris can be that when the blue and gold are healthy. In the short term, he is in line for a bigger role than that.

The Pacers have already had nine different players miss time due to injury, and their season has been going on for just two weeks. With so many players sidelined, they’ve already needed to make four transactions just to field a team, and a rotation that makes sense.

They’ll head out on a road trip starting on Saturday. The Pacers will hope Morris can help them earn some wins while away.