Pacers Bring Back Garrison Mathews, Cut Jeremiah Robinson-Earl
pacers-re-sign-garrison-mathews-waive-jeremiah-robinson-earl
The Indiana Pacers have signed guard Garrison Mathews to a standard NBA contract and placed forward Jeremiah Robinson-Earl on waivers, multiple outlets reported Thursday.
Mathews’ second 10-day deal expired overnight, prompting the move to keep him on the 15-man roster. League rules stop a player from signing more than two 10-day contracts with the same team in one season, so Indiana had to convert the 29-year-old’s agreement to a standard deal.
The shooting guard joined the Pacers last month on a hardship exception and struggled early, hitting just 2-for-13 from the field and scoring nine total points in 46 minutes over his first four appearances. During his second 10-day stint, he averaged 8.5 points across four games, shooting 50.0 percent overall, 46.7 percent from three-point range and 75.0 percent at the foul line in 19.3 minutes per night.
Mathews’ new contract is a non-guaranteed minimum, preserving the Pacers’ roster flexibility ahead of next month’s league-wide salary guarantee deadline.
Indiana previously used the same approach with Robinson-Earl, converting him to a standard deal after two hardship 10-day contracts and waiving veteran guard Monte Morris to open a slot. The 22-year-old forward averaged 4.6 points and 5.2 rebounds in 17 contests (17.6 MPG) but had fallen out of the rotation, receiving DNP-CDs in Friday’s win at Chicago and Monday’s game against Sacramento.
Waiving Robinson-Earl will leave $589,306 in dead salary on Indiana’s books—$131,970 for each of his 10-day contracts and $325,366 for the prorated portion of his non-guaranteed deal.
Source: Hoops Rumors
