The Pacers will have 20 players in training camp, which opens Tuesday at the brand new St. Vincent Center. That’s the maximum number of roster spots the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement allows.
Indiana pushed its roster to 20 on Monday by signing 6-foot-9, 221-pound forward Jarrod Uthoff, who went undrafted in 2016 out of Iowa and spent time in both the NBA and G League during his rookie season.
Although the most likely outcome is that Uthoff ends up in Fort Wayne playing with the Mad Ants, Pacers President Kevin Pritchard says he will be taking a hard look for those fringe roster spots.
“Ben [Moore], Jarrod, they’ve had really good time here,” he said Monday at Pacers media day. “The one thing I can tell you is I’m going in with a clean slate. I want to see who proves themself on the court because if you come out here, you work hard in the summer, and you prove that you can belong, then we have two open roster spots. We can be flexible with that.
“I want guys out there knowing that they can make a team if they impress us. … We’re wide-open on those last two [roster spots]. We may use them, we may not. It just depends.”
While in the G League, playing for the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, Uthoff averaged 17.1 points, 9.1 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 1.6 blocks per game over 11 games. Late in the year, he was called up by the Dallas Mavericks, just like Ben Bentil and Yogi Ferrell.
With the Mavericks, Uthoff appeared in nine games and averaged 4.4 points and 4.0 rebounds per game.
Jarrod will wear No. 19. NBA rosters must be cut to 15 — at most — by Oct. 16.
Full Training Camp Roster:
