In the Pacers’ first move of the 2018 NBA free agency, they quickly reached agreement with Doug McDermott on a three-year deal, a league source confirmed to VigilantSports.com.
McDermott, 26, is a 40.3-percent three-point shooter who has averaged 7.9 points per game over four NBA seasons. He can provide a much-needed scoring boost and spacing off the bench, playing behind Bojan Bogdanovic.
This three-year deal, worth $22 million, is fully guaranteed with no options, per source.
This move for McDermott hopefully provides some stability for the 6-foot-8 forward out of Creighton. He was dealt mid-year last season, from New York to Dallas, and the Pacers will be his fifth team in five years.
In all, McDermott has spent time in Chicago (161 games), Oklahoma City (22), New York (55), and Dallas (26).
Being prepared paid off for the Pacers, too. See, initially the Mavericks tendered a qualifying offer of $4.3 million to McDermott, meaning they would have the right to match any offer on the restricted free agent. However, one day later, ESPN’s Zach Lowe reported that Mark Cuban’s team had withdrawn the qualifying offer, so McDermott officially became an unrestricted free agent on July 1.
The Mavs then reportedly agreed to a one-year deal with center DeAndre Jordan worth $24.1 million.
This is another move for the Pacers betting on a former lottery pick, like Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis. Those two were teammates with McDermott, a midseason acquisition by the Thunder, for 22 games plus a first-round playoff series in 2017.
McDermott was the 11th overall pick in 2014, officially taken by the Denver Nuggets but then dealt to the Chicago Bulls in a deal that included the 16th and 19th pick in that draft – used on Jusuf Nurkic and Indy native Gary Harris. In that very same draft, the Nuggets later drafted Nikola Jokić 41st overall.
Rick Carlisle, the Mavericks head coach who directed the Pacers from 2003-07, once compared him to … Reggie Miller.
After today's practice, Carlisle compared Doug McDermott's play to Hall of Famer Reggie Miller, who played for Carlisle in Indy. Carlisle: "I think Reggie is a valid comparison. We just got to do everything we can to take advantage of him offensively and protect him on D."
— Dwain Price (@DwainPrice) February 22, 2018
This deal — and all others — cannot be signed until the conclusion of the NBA’s moratorium on July 6.
Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN first reported the agreement.