Tony Bradley remains a free agent after his 10-day deal with Pacers ends

INDIANAPOLIS – The Indiana Pacers are heading into the NBA trade deadline with a newly opened spot on their roster and a known distance from the luxury tax line, the closest financial barrier to the team.

That’s because the team made the choice on Thursday not to re-sign center Tony Bradley at this moment. Bradley was on a 10-day contract that he initially signed on January 19th, meaning it expired after January 28th.

The said date fell on a Wednesday and the Pacers hosted the Chicago Bulls that evening. It was a close win for Indiana and Bradley did not appear in the game. The veteran big man logged just six minutes of total action in the Pacers’ last four outings.

That’s due to two factors – one of which is that the Pacers are improving the health of the center. Isaiah Jackson returned from a concussion earlier this month and is back in the rotation mix for the blue and gold, getting regular backup minutes over the last few games. Additionally, head coach Rick Carlisle has opted to start games without a center on the floor to gain more space and pace on the hardwood. Overall, that leaves little playing time for centers to play.

Micah Potter, Jay Huff and Jackson have recently received the most minutes as Indiana’s backup center. With Bradley out of the picture on the court, retaining him made less sense from a basketball perspective.

What other reasons did the Pacers have for not re-signing Tony Bradley?

It also made little sense from a roster strategy perspective, at least at this point. Committing financial resources to a veteran who doesn’t play much is rarely a good thing, and the looming trade deadline gives the Pacers reasons to have no one rather than retain Bradley.

NBA rules only allow teams to sign individuals to two ten-day contracts per season. After that, a player can only sign a standard NBA deal with the franchise for the remainder of the season. Bradley signed a pair of 10-day contracts with the Pacers this month, meaning the Pacers wouldn’t be able to keep the eight-year pro without signing him to a contract for the remainder of the season.

NBA contracts can no longer be non-guaranteed as of earlier this month, so if the Pacers wanted to keep Bradley, they would have had to sign him to a guaranteed contract. This would have cost the blue and gold at least $977,000 against the salary cap.

That would have limited the team’s flexibility heading into the upcoming NBA trade deadline. As things stand, the Pacers are about $5.5 million under the luxury tax threshold and have a 12-36 record, so spending more on the roster and paying a luxury tax bill would be unwise. That should essentially be viewed as a spending limit for the Pacers.

But the Indiana front office does have the full Non-Taxpayer Mid-Lever Exception and a Disabled Player Exception. That means the Pacers can acquire a player through trades without returning an appropriate salary, as long as the acquired player’s salary is not so high that it would put the Pacers over the first salary cap. That apron is above the tax threshold, but Indiana has a hard cap on that number.

While reaching the first platform would put the blue and gold over the tax line, there is still value in being able to earn some paychecks. For example, right now the Pacers could acquire a player making $4.8 million in a trade without shipping any players away while still staying under the luxury tax line. If they had signed Bradley to a veteran’s minimum deal, making the exact same move would have made the Pacers a tax-paying team.

Not only that, but the Pacers now have an open roster spot. That makes the trade easier: Indiana can now sign one more player than they send out in a deal with another team. That, too, adds flexibility to Indiana’s trade deadline options.

So while Bradley played plenty of minutes this season, averaging 4.0 points and 2.8 rebounds per game, it doesn’t make sense to sign him to the Pacers now. Having more trade options is more important for a team looking for long-term value.

Should the Pacers trade one of their centers, they might be able to bring Bradley back later in the season. He knows the system well and is a welcome presence in the locker room. But right now, the team doesn’t have a core need and could make more use of the flexibility of trade deadlines.