October 28: The moves are official, the Pacers confirmed in a press release.
October 27: The Pacers are signing free agent guard Mac McClung to a multiyear contract, agent Greg Lawrence tells Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).
McClung’s multiyear deal will be non-guaranteed, sources tell Charania (Twitter link).
To make room for McClung on their standard roster, which is currently full, the Pacers intend to waive center James Wiseman, reports Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (via Twitter).
As Keith Smith of Spotrac tweets, Wiseman’s contract features a $1MM partial guarantee. Assuming he clears the waiver wire, Indiana will carry that $1MM cap hit on its books for the remainder of 2025/26.
The No. 2 overall pick in the 2020 draft, Wiseman signed with the Pacers as a free agent in the 2024 offseason after playing for Golden State and Detroit in his first four NBA seasons. The big man impressed Indiana in the preseason last fall and appeared to have the edge for the backup center role behind Myles Turner, but tore his left Achilles tendon in the club’s regular season opener.
Wiseman, 24, re-signed with the Pacers on a two-year deal (the second season is a team option) in July and was said to be in excellent shape entering the ’25/26. Just like last season, he appeared in one game for the Pacers this fall, recording four points and four rebounds in 20 minutes during Saturday’s blowout loss in Memphis.
The Pacers were carrying four centers on their roster and have several guards injured at the moment, so swapping out Wiseman for McClung makes sense from a roster composition perspective.
McClung has become a household name among NBA fans by winning the league’s past three slam dunk contests. However, the 26-year-old has still seen limited game action at the NBA level, appearing in just six total regular season contests for four teams from 2021-25. He was on a two-way contract with the Magic for all of last season, but logged just 10 total minutes in two outings for Orlando.
McClung has starred in the G League in recent years, earning a spot on the All-NBAGL first team in 2024/25 after being named MVP in ’23/24. In a total of 44 appearances for the Osceola Magic last season, he averaged 23.0 points, 5.4 assists and 3.9 rebounds in 32.4 minutes per game, with a shooting line of .481/.344/.828.
The 6’2″ guard was signed and waived by Chicago this fall and likely would have started ’25/26 with the Windy City Bulls had the opportunity with Indiana not come up. Instead, he’ll be signing his first standard NBA contract with the Pacers, as Charania notes.