The Pacers have finally made it official with Braden Smith.
Nearly two months after drafting the Purdue point guard, Indiana announced Monday that Smith is signed to a two-way contract. The move came after the team waived guard Ethan Thompson on Friday so he could head overseas and sign with Partizan Belgrade in Serbia.
Smith now joins forwards Kobe Brown and Jalen Slawson as the Pacers’ three two-way players to open the 2026-27 season. Earlier this summer, Indiana was sorting through five candidates for those three spots before waiving Taelon Peter and Thompson to clear the way.
A two-way deal ties a player to both an NBA team and its G League affiliate. It pays half the rookie minimum - $678,882 this season - and allows a player to be active for as many as 50 NBA games. Those players are not postseason-eligible and do not count against the salary cap.
Indiana drafted Smith with the No. 38 pick in June after sending guard Kam Jones and pick swaps in 2028 and 2030 to the Bulls. That trade also opened about $2.1 million in salary space, which helped the Pacers bring in free agents Kelly Oubre Jr. and Larry Nance Jr. this offseason.
Smith’s basketball résumé in Indiana already runs deep. He starred at Westfield High School and was named Indiana’s Mr.
Basketball in 2022. At Purdue, he spent four seasons helping the Boilermakers reach their first Final Four since 1980 and their first national final since 1969.
He also earned All-America honors twice and finished his college career as the all-time NCAA Division I assists leader with 1,103.
His Summer League stint with the Pacers showed both sides of his game. Smith struggled to score, averaging 6.8 points while shooting 26.5% overall and 29.4% from 3-point range, going 5 of 17. But he also dished out 7.0 assists per game, and his 35 total assists were tied for second-most in NBA Summer League behind only Zyon Pullin’s 39.
Indiana still has one standard contract slot open, but the financial picture is tight. The Pacers are only $2.2 million below the first luxury tax apron, where they are hard-capped because Oubre was signed with the non-taxpayer mid-level exception. That leaves room for a rookie-minimum player, but not for a veteran minimum beyond one year, since that would count $2.4 million against the cap.
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