Pacers notebook: Waivers made, TV updates, uniforms and courts revealed

INDIANAPOLIS – Tomorrow, NBA teams must have their roster trimmed down to the appropriate size for the regular season. That same day, contracts start to count against the salary cap – meaning if a player has not cleared waivers, their team will incur some level of a cap hit for their services.

The waiver process takes 48 hours. That's why almost every team, including the Pacers, made several waivers on Saturday – the cut players will clear waivers and not be on the books at the start of the 2026-27 season. The Pacers are right up against their first apron hard cap, meaning they can hardly afford to roster 15 players at this time. As a result, they released the following three players:

-James Johnson
-Rienk Mast
-Keba Keita

As expected. Keita and Mast were on Exhibit 10 deals and are now expected to end up with the Noblesville Boom. Mast was quite good during summer league for the Pacers, and both big men turned in solid preseasons. That's good news for the Boom – Mast, in particular, seems worthy of attention once the G League season starts in a few weeks.

Circle City Spin

The Indiana Pacers and Indiana Fever, up close

Circle City SpinTony East

Johnson is more meaningful in that he has been with the Pacers for the majority of the last half decade and has close relationships with most of the roster. Watching him bounce around from teammate to teammate in the locker room before Pacers-Bucks on Friday was just another reminder of his ability to connect with anyone about anything.

That he is a strong basketball force, literally, is also of note. The Pacers enjoyed that he was an enforcer on the court in the preseason. Assistant coach Lloyd Pierce pointed to a "hell of a screen" that Johnson set in Oklahoma City as an on-court showing of what Johnson does for the team – displaying physicality in a way that forces others to follow suit.

"He has always provided us with confidence, leadership, and an understanding of physicality in this game. He’s not afraid to set the example," Pierce said of Johnson.

But the Pacers had to let him go for salary cap reasons – they cannot afford to keep his contract on the books while remaining under their first apron hard cap. Johnson's minimum salary is too high to stick around right now. The Pacers can afford to sign a veteran player to a minimum-salary deal as soon as November 5, but they could benefit from a flexibility perspective by waiting to add a 15th player.

With Johnson, Mast, and Keita waived, the Pacers roster is down to 14 players on standard deals and three on two-way pacts. They have a legal roster for the regular season, which begins for them on Wednesday.

Other notes about the Pacers ahead of the season, before it becomes mostly all about basketball.

Noblesville Boom announce coaching staff for upcoming season

Bryce Taylor will soon start his first season as the head coach of the Noblesville Boom. Taylor's staff for 2026-27 was announced earlier this week.

Herman Mandole - Assistant Coach
Connor McCaffery - Assistant Coach
Kelly Faris - Assistant Coach
Christian Siakam - Coaching Associate

You may recognize some of those names. McCaffery is back with the Pacers organization after being a basketball development coordinator in 2023-24. He was an assistant coach for the Butler Men's Basketball team for the previous two seasons. Faris was with the Boom last season as a part of the NBA Coaching Development Program, then joined former Pacers assistant Tyler Marsh on the Chicago Sky's coaching staff for the 2026 WNBA season.

Chrisitan Siakam is Pascal's brother. It's his second season with the Boom – he previously was an assistant with the Raptors 905 in the G League and played college basketball at IU Indy.

Mandole is new to the Boom, coming over from the Sioux Falls Skyforce. Also new to the Noblesville staff this year is Chastity Chov, the head athletic trainer.

The NBA Cup comes to Hinkle Fieldhouse

This is more NBA news than Pacers news. And it was announced a while ago. But for an update here, if you missed it: The NBA Cup championship game will take place at Butler University. Hinkle Fieldhouse will host the title battle, which used to be played at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

That's where the Pacers played in the then-named In-Season Tournament Finals in 2023. The NBA wanted to make changes, though, and Commissioner Adam Silver suggested late last year that a college venue could be a possibility.

"Hinkle Fieldhouse offers a special setting to capture the excitement and drama of the Emirates NBA Cup Championship," said NBA Head of Global Events Kelly Flatow. "Playing the Championship in an iconic basketball environment like this will further establish it as a signature moment on the NBA calendar."

The game will take place on Friday, December 11 here in Indianapolis. The Pacers will hope to be a participant, but that won't be easy. If you missed it, their NBA Cup opponents for Group Stage play are difficult.

The Pacers games to be played in East Group B in the NBA Cup:

-Miami Heat (Away game on Friday, October 30)
-New York Knicks (Home game on Friday, November 13)
-Philadelphia 76ers (Away game on Friday, November 20)
-Cleveland Cavaliers (Home game on Friday, November 27)

Another new uniform for the 2026-27 Pacers

Welcome the ABA Classic Edition uniform to the Pacers lineup of jerseys for the coming season.

It's got the old logo from 1967 on the shorts and the classic racing stripe crossing the uniform. And with it comes a court the Pacers will break out a few times this season.

The Pacers will wear the ABA-inspired jerseys 15 times this season, including in seven home games. The Brooklyn Nets, Denver Nuggets, and San Antonio Spurs also have jerseys inspired by their ABA days, and the teams will wear them when they play each other this season (with the exception of the Pacers-Nuggets game in Mexico City next month).

These jerseys were specifically inspired by the Pacers' uniforms from 1971-74. They won three ABA championships.

Also, an NBA Cup court reveal

Maybe this should have gone in the NBA Cup section. Maybe there should have been a courts section.

Either way, the league shared what every team's court will look like for their two (or more, if a team reaches the Knockout Round) home games during NBA Cup play. Here is the Pacers:

More broadcast details

Back when the Pacers announced that they were partnering with DAZN for their local broadcast this season, they also revealed that 15 games will be available for free via linear television.

Earlier this month, the team announced that Nexstar Media Group will bring those games to fans. For those in Indianapolis, the Nexstar stations are CBS4 and FOX59. They will also be carried live by WTVW-TV (CW) in Evansville, and WCIX-TV (MyNet) in Champaign, Illinois.

The 15 games will also be free on DAZN. The 15 games, and their Indy TV home, can be found below.

Thank you for reading. The Pacers have several deadlines coming tomorrow as it pertains to contract extensions, and the end of training camp approaches. Sign up for stories about the team heading into the season, which begins Wednesday in New Orleans.