Pacers see first of their free agents leave the team

(WISH) — Former Pacer Jalen Smith reportedly agreed to a deal with the Chicago Bulls, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported on Monday morning.

The deal is for three years and $27 million.

Smith declined a $5.4 million player option on Saturday, making him an unrestricted free agent.

Out of the Pacers free agents, Smith is the first one to leave Indiana. He’s one of three Pacers free agents to agree to a deal.

On June 19, it was reported that Pascal Siakam would return to the Pacers with a deal of four years and $189.5 million. Obi Toppin also reportedly agreed to a deal to return to the Pacers on Sunday for four years and $60 million.

It is currently still the moratorium stage of NBA free agency, so none of these deals can be signed yet. NBA teams were allowed to start negotiating deals with free agents starting on June 30 at 6 p.m EST. Players can start officially signing with teams on June 6 (Saturday) at 12:01 p.m. EST.

Smith played two and a half seasons in Indiana with the Pacers. He was acquired from the Suns in the 2021-22 season in a trade that sent Torrey Craig to Phoenix and Smith and a 2022 second round pick to the Pacers.

Smith averaged 10.2 points per game across his 151 games played in Indiana. This past season, he averaged 9.9 points per game, 5.5 rebounds per game. He shot 59.2% from the floor and 42.4% from three-point range.

The Pacers still have two unrestricted free agents that have yet to agree to deals, those being Doug McDermott and James Johnson.