Pacers sign Quenton Jackson to two-way deal; may be moving on from Oscar Tshiebwe

Posted by Admin July 27, 2024 NBA

INDIANAPOLIS — The Pacers re-signed guard Quenton Jackson to a two-way contract Friday according to the NBA’s official transactions page, which may mean they’ve decided to move on from the G League Rookie of the Year. As expected, Tristen Newton was also signed to a two-way contract, the team announced.

Jackson and center Oscar Tshiebwe played under two-way contracts at the end of last season, spending most of their time with the Indiana Mad Ants of the G League but being occasionally called on to suit up for the Pacers. However, even before Jackson’s signing, the Pacers already had all 15 of their full-time roster spots filled. There is one more two-way contract technically open, but the Pacers haven’t formally signed second-round pick Enrique Freeman yet. Unless the Pacers would make the surprising decision to waive him or forward Kendall Brown — who’s contract is not guaranteed — Tshiebwe would appear to be the odd man out.

Pacers news: Johnny Furphy, Jarace Walker among standouts for Pacers at NBA Summer League

Once center Jalen Smith declined his player option to become a free agent, the Pacers opened the offseason with 10 players under contract, including Brown. The Pacers re-signed power forwards Pascal Siakam and Obi Toppin — whose previous contracts expired — to four-year deals, then added center James Wiseman to fill in Smith’s spot. They signed second-round pick Johnny Furphy to a four-year rookie scale contract and then elder statesman James Johnson Jr. to a one-year deal to fill out the five open full-time positions.

That effectively left four players to compete for the three two-way positions with Freeman and Newton having the advantage of being new draftees.

Jackson and Tshiebwe were both productive both with the Mad Ant last season and with the Pacers in the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas earlier this month.

Jackson averaged 22.3 points and 5.4 assists in nine games with the Mad Ants last season after he was signed in March, then averaged 11.0 points and 4.2 assists per game in Summer League, scoring 22 points in the Pacers’ fifth and final game.

Tshiebwe, a two-time All-American and 2021-22 consensus national player of the year at Kentucky, led the G-League in rebounding with 16.0 per game last season to go with 16.4 points per game. In Summer League he averaged 11.6 points and 8.6 rebounds per game. However defense was a struggle for him especially when it came to handling pick-and-roll coverages or when dealing with smaller lineups. In the Mad Ants’ lone playoff game, the Delaware Blue Coats used a wing-heavy lineup and Tshiebwe played just 17 minutes in the loss.