{"id":152087,"date":"2025-07-25T11:17:30","date_gmt":"2025-07-25T15:17:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=152087"},"modified":"2025-07-25T11:17:30","modified_gmt":"2025-07-25T15:17:30","slug":"pacers-waiting-to-strike-with-use-or-lose-it-cap-assets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/07\/25\/pacers-waiting-to-strike-with-use-or-lose-it-cap-assets\/","title":{"rendered":"Pacers Waiting To Strike With ‘Use Or Lose It’ Cap Assets"},"content":{"rendered":"

INDIANA<\/strong> \u2013 The Indiana Pacers<\/a> stand at a crossroads this offseason. A painful end to a magical run left them bruised but not broken. They watched the Thunder<\/a> lift the Larry O\u2019Brien trophy at the Payton Center. They also watched Tyrese Haliburton<\/a> go down with an Achilles tear that changes everything.<\/p>\n

Pacers Waiting To Strike With ‘Use Or Lose It’ Exceptions<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Picking Up the Pieces<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\"The
Jan 30, 2023; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Indiana Pacers president of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard speaks during an Indiana Pacers press conference at Gainsbridge Fieldhouse. Mandatory Credit: Marc Lebryk-USA TODAY Sports<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Losing Haliburton for the season hurt badly. Watching Myles Turner<\/a> walk in free agency<\/a> to join the Bucks<\/a> only added salt to the wound. The Pacers responded quickly by trading for Jay Huff<\/a> as Turner\u2019s replacement. But outside that move, they have stayed quiet.<\/p>\n

That silence hides something bigger. The Pacers still hold two powerful tools: the Non-Taxpayer Mid-Level Exception (NTMLE) and the Disabled Player Exception (DPE). These assets could lighten Haliburton\u2019s absence if used wisely.<\/p>\n

What Makes These Exceptions So Critical<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The Non-Taxpayer MLE is a league-approved tool that lets teams below the luxury tax add talent. It\u2019s worth around $14.1 million this season. They can sign a free agent or grab someone off waivers. But there\u2019s a catch: it expires if not used by June 30.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a true \u201cuse it or lose it\u201d asset. If they don\u2019t spend it, it\u2019s gone.<\/p>\n

The DPE exists for a single reason\u2014replacing a player out for the year. Haliburton\u2019s big salary let the Pacers get a DPE also worth about $14.1 million. They can spend it on one player for a one-year deal or trade for someone on an expiring contract. But the DPE dies March 10 if unused\u2014or if Haliburton miraculously returns early before it’s used.<\/p>\n

Buchanan\u2019s Stance<\/strong><\/h3>\n

GM Chad Buchanan made the team\u2019s stance clear<\/a> on the Setting the Pace Podcast. They refuse to sit idle. \u201cWe\u2019re always going to be, if there\u2019s an opportunity out there to help our team, we\u2019re not going to turn our nose to that. And we have some tools to do that. We\u2019re still below the luxury tax. We have exceptions that we can use as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also added, \u201cWe\u2019re going to be scouring the market for a player that makes sense, for a player that can help us, you know people say this is a gap year for the Pacers. We don\u2019t view it that way. If there\u2019s a player out there that can help our roster, if it\u2019s a back court player, we\u2019re going to continue to look at that.\u201d<\/p>\n

That mindset explains why the Pacers haven\u2019t jumped yet. They know the market might yield a better option later. Some contenders stash the DPE for emergency buyout deals near the trade deadline. The Pacers can do the same.<\/p>\n

A Strategic Wait\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Holding the NTMLE and DPE gives the Pacers unique flexibility. They can chase a free agent with the NTMLE if the right name hits the market. Or they can swing a low-risk trade with the DPE if a good expiring player becomes available. The DPE works like a one-time trade exception. They don\u2019t need to match outgoing salary. They can take on up to $14.1 million.<\/p>\n

If they believe the roster can overachieve, a smart swing might push them over the top. If not, the Pacers could let both exceptions expire and move forward clean.<\/p>\n

Their Destiny, Their Call<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The Pacers know this season will test them. They also know they hold cards that few teams do. Cap flexibility. Smart front office. Two exceptions that open doors.<\/p>\n

The Pacers will watch. They will wait. And when the moment is right, they\u2019ll strike.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

INDIANA \u2013 The Indiana Pacers stand at a crossroads this offseason. A painful end to a magical run left them bruised but not broken. They watched the Thunder lift the Larry O\u2019Brien trophy at the Payton Center. They also watched Tyrese Haliburton go down with an Achilles tear that changes everything. Pacers Waiting To Strike […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5018,"featured_media":152093,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[62,1608,11,3,4721],"tags":[50219,49671,4261,4975,4557,49742,2607],"class_list":["post-152087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba","category-basketball","category-pacers","category-news","category-trade-rumors","tag-2025-nba-free-agents","tag-exceptions","tag-nba-buyout","tag-nba-contracts","tag-nba-offseason","tag-salary-cap","tag-tyrese-haliburton"],"modified_by":"Frederick Okocha","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152087","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5018"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152087"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152087\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":152095,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152087\/revisions\/152095"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/152093"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}