The Pacers’ summer league trip has already produced a name worth tracking, and it isn’t one of the obvious headliners. In Sunday night’s 100-93 overtime loss to the Sixers, Rienk Mast was the one who really popped, leading Indiana in both scoring and rebounds.
That came after Indiana opened with a 99-93 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday, a result that at least gave the group something to build on after last season’s 19-63 finish, one year removed from a Finals berth. The summer roster has its share of intrigue, with third-year guard Jalen Slawson and Japanese standout Yuki Kawamura among the other bright spots, but Mast’s performance may have been the most eye-catching of the bunch.
The Nebraska big man is on an Exhibit-10 contract for now, but the next step he’s chasing is clear: a two-way deal, or at minimum a G-League landing spot. At 6-foot-10, he doesn’t fit the usual Pacers prototype, but he’s making a case that production can outweigh labels.
Mast’s path has been anything but ordinary. He joined the Dutch club Donar at 16 and helped them win a cup as a rookie.
By his second season, he had already climbed to Under-23 MVP and Most Improved Player honors. Not long after that, he helped lead the Netherlands to FIBA Second Division gold as the team’s captain.
That run opened the door to Bradley University in Illinois, where he spent three years before transferring to Nebraska. His time with the Cornhuskers brought All-Big Ten recognition on both sides of a major knee injury, another stop in a career that has already packed in a lot of mileage.
What Mast gives Indiana is pretty easy to see. He’s a strong post presence who can score and pass out of the block, and he has enough balance around the rim to make himself useful on both ends. He’s undersized for the position in today’s game, but his frame and broad shoulders help him carry it well, and he moves better than you’d expect.
He’s also got nearly 10 years of professional experience behind him, which matters in a setting like this. He’s been through enough to handle the moment, and that showed in the way he took over Sunday’s game.
RotoWire.com compared him to Kelly Olynyk or Nikola Vucevic, though neither is really the rim-protecting type Indiana seems to prefer. Even so, Mast could still have a path as a reserve center if injuries hit the depth chart again, just as they did last season.
If that kind of emergency ever comes up, the Pacers will have bigger issues than whether Mast can fill the minutes. For now, though, he looks like one of the more enjoyable watches on the summer league roster, and maybe its most intriguing find.
In Other News...
Pacers Just Made Another Tough Depth Call After Nance Move
Micah Potters run with the Pacers ended the same way a lot of roster-fight stories do in late summer, with a team trying to balance usefulness against flexibility. The five-year NBA veteran had his best statistical season in Indiana, averaging 9.7 points and five rebounds in 47 appearances, and his offense gave the Pacers a workable depth option at center.
Still, Indiana chose to move on after adding Larry Nance Jr., a move that brought more positional versatility and helped the front office trim salary near the first apron. Potter was always more of a fringe rotation piece than a nightly answer because of the defensive questions, so the Pacers opted for the cleaner roster fit even if it meant giving up a player who had carved out a real role. [Read more 🡒]
Pacers Just Got An Uncomfortable Early Look At A Real Problem
Las Vegas Summer League is supposed to be about first impressions, and the Pacers got one they probably would have preferred to avoid. In a 100-93 loss, the player taken No. 22 in the draft carved them up for a game-high 24 points, adding 6 assists, 3 rebounds and a steal while controlling the game in a way Indiana could not quite answer.
For a roster trying to sort out who can hold up on the perimeter and who can keep an offense from getting comfortable, that kind of showing lands with some extra weight. It was only one game in July, but it was also the sort of early look that can expose a real issue before the Pacers have much time to smooth it over. [Read more 🡒]