NBA Rumors: James Wiseman Signs Pacers Contract; Former No. 2 Overall Draft Pick

The Indiana Pacers agreed to a two-year contract with center James Wiseman in free agency on Tuesday, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

Wiseman, who was the No. 2 overall pick in the 2020 NBA draft by the Golden State Warriors, spent parts of the past two seasons with the Detroit Pistons.

The Pistons declined to tender Wiseman a qualifying offer last week, which made him an unrestricted free agent.

Wiseman, 23, appeared in a career-high 63 games last season, staring six of them. He averaged 7.1 points and 5.3 rebounds in 16.3 minutes per contest, while shooting 61.3 percent from the field for a rebuilding Pistons team.

When he entered the league in 2020, Wiseman did so with plenty of fanfare behind him, as the Warriors used a rare high draft pick to take him second overall out of Memphis.

Golden State was among the worst teams in the league the previous season due to Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson both missing most of the campaign due to injuries, and they used it as an opportunity to add a talented 7-footer to their roster.

Unfortunately for Wiseman, injuries plagued his time in Golden State, as he was limited to 39 games in his rookie season and missed the entire 2021-22 campaign, which concluded with the Dubs winning a championship.

After appearing in 21 games for the Warriors in 2022-23, Wiseman was traded to the Pistons that season, and he played the best basketball of his career.

In 24 games with the Pistons during the 2022-23 season, Wiseman averaged 12.7 points and 8.1 rebounds per game, which would have been career highs extrapolated over the course of an entire year.

As a result, expectations were high entering last season, but Wiseman was never a substantial part of head coach Monty Williams’ rotation.

In Indiana, Wiseman will land with a Pacers team that exceeded expectations last season by going 47-35 and reaching the Eastern Conference Finals.

Wiseman will be clearly behind Myles Turner, Pascal Siakam and Obi Toppin in the frontcourt rotation, but he has a chance to carve out a meaningful role as the No. 2 center.

Jalen Smith averaged 9.9 points 5.5 rebounds per game in that spot for the Pacers last season, and in the wake of him signing with the Chicago Bulls in free agency, Wiseman can now step in.