Report: Pacers sign A.J. Price
After their deal with Gal Mekel fell through Thursday morning, the Indiana Pacers have used the hardship exception granted to them by the league to sign free-agent guard A.J. Price, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports.
With George Hill, C.J. Watson and Rodney Stuckey on the shelf with various lower-body injuries, the Pacers were down to just two guards on their active roster. They still managed to take the Washington Wizards to overtime Wednesday night, thanks in large part to a 31-point outburst from de facto starting point guard Donald Sloan.
Price, a 6-foot-2 combo guard recently released by the Cleveland Cavaliers, should at least take some of the pressure off Sloan and C.J. Miles. The former was forced to play 43 minutes on Wednesday, while the latter has struggled tremendously with an increased workload this season, shooting 25.4 percent from the field and 17.2 percent from 3-point range.
The Pacers drafted Price in the second round in 2009, and the 28-year-old has played 150 of his 235 NBA games with Indiana. He's averaged 5.9 points and 2.2 assists in parts of five seasons.