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Report: NBA temporarily disallows Pacers' deal with Monta Ellis

Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

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Monta Ellis have it all. In this case, all was a little too much.

The NBA has temporarily disallowed Ellis's new contract with the Indiana Pacers, according to a report from Zach Lowe of Grantland.

Ellis's contract, which was officially announced Tuesday, is reportedly for four years and $44 million. Because of how the Pacers sequenced their offseason moves, they technically ran out of the requisite cap space to sign him to that particular contract structure, which would pay him $10.3 million for 2015-16.

The Pacers are expected to eventually sign Ellis, possibly after reordering their transactions. This happens occasionally, as Lowe points out, because of the complexity of the NBA's collective bargaining agreement. Kenneth Faried, for example, had to rework his extension with the Denver Nuggets last fall because the original terms violated the CBA, though that was a far more egregious and blatant error.

The sticking point for the Pacers could be a deal for second-round pick Joseph Young, which extends beyond the minimum and therefore eats into cap space that a minimum contract wouldn't. The sequencing of new deals for Lavoy Allen, Rodney Stuckey, and Jordan Hill could also complicate matters, depending on their structure.

The important thing here for Pacers fans is that Indiana will still land Ellis. It may require altering the structure of his deal or some form of shuffling that's unfavorable to the Pacers, but they'll almost surely get their top free-agent signing. Indiana has enough flexibility to get all of the players on their roster and could bump Young into their Room Exception, or delay the signing of Allen and use his Bird rights to re-sign him.

Assuming Ellis doesn't have to take a haircut here, the contract seems mutually beneficial. Ellis is a nice fit and can now re-enter the market at age 33, or age 32 if he opts out of the fourth year of the deal. In the right team context, surrounded by shooters, Ellis's ability to carve into the teeth of a defense and score inside the arc is valuable, and few players can fill it up like the 6-foot-3 off-guard can.

The Pacers can offer that, flanking Ellis with strong shooters and defenders in George Hill and Paul George. Ellis averaged 18.9 points and 4.1 assists last season and is seventh in total scoring since 2006-07. He should be able to leverage his versatile offensive talents in a system that will discourage his bad habits and cover up his defensive deficiencies.

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