Pacers create trade exception in Doug McDermott sign-and-trade with Spurs

Here are the terms.

Doug McDermott officially is a member of the San Antonio Spurs — and the Indiana Pacers officially will get something in return for his departure.

The Pacers and Spurs completed a sign-and-trade on Sunday that sends McDermott, a 2023 protected second-round pick and the right to swap 2026 second-round picks to the Spurs in exchange for San Antonio’s 2023 protected second-round pick, the teams announced.

More importantly, with McDermott already agreeing to join San Antonio on a three-year, $42 million contract, the Pacers were able to create a traded player exception equal to the value of the sharpshooter’s first-year salary that will expire one year from the date of today’s trade at the cost of only minor assets.

“We wish nothing but the best for Doug,” said Kevin Pritchard in a statement issued via the team. “In his time here, he was a great teammate and consummate professional, whose contributions on and off the floor will always be appreciated.”

Overall, as a movement shooter who had improved at leveraging off-ball screens into drives, McDermott’s floor spacing and the wavelength he developed with Domantas Sabonis will be missed, but at least the Pacers won’t be left empty-handed in the wake of his understandable decision to go get paid in San Antonio.

According to ESPN’s Bobby Marks, the trade exception, which cannot be aggregated with outgoing player salary to acquire a higher-paid player, is worth $7.4 million.