Calbert Cheaney to Join Indiana Pacers Coaching Staff

Cheaney has spent the last two years as a G-League assistant with the Atlanta Hawks.

Dylan Wallace | Nov 16, 2020

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — It's a Hoosier homecoming in Indianapolis as Indiana legend Calbert Cheaney is reportedly joining the Indiana Pacers coaching staff.

ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, otherwise known as Woj, was the first to report this.

Hoosier Homecoming: Calbert Cheaney is joining the Indiana Pacers as an assistant coach, sources tell ESPN. Cheaney has been a G-League assistant with Atlanta for the past two years.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) November 16, 2020

Cheaney will be joining first-year head coach Nate Bjorkgren as he takes over for Nate McMillan, who was fired after this past season.

There are two other additions on the assistant coaching staff as well so far, and that's Kaleb Canales and Greg Foster.

OFFICIAL: Kaleb Canales and Greg Foster have been hired as assistant coaches to join Coach Bjorkgren's coaching staff. Additionally, Bill Bayno was retained as assistant coach.

Learn more about our coaching staff ⤵️https://t.co/HbTwxQsRzX
— Indiana Pacers (@Pacers) November 13, 2020

Cheaney, originally from Evansville, Ind., played four seasons at Indiana University from 1989-93 and scored 2,613 career points. He is the Big Ten's all-time leading scorer.

He then played 13 NBA seasons after being taken No. 6 overall in the 1993 NBA draft. Over 825 career NBA games, Cheaney averaged 9.5 points, 3.2 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game.

Cheaney did spend a little bit of time in Bloomington after that, working in a director of operations and development role from 2011 to 2013 under Tom Crean.

That means Cheaney worked with Victor Oladipo, who is currently on the Pacers.

After being at Indiana, Cheaney took an assistant coaching job at St. Louis, and then took a few years off from coaching until 2018, when he became a G-League assistant with the Atlanta Hawks for the past two years.

Now Cheaney will be back in Indiana, working with a first-year coaching staff on a Pacers team that finished 45-28 last season but got swept in the first round of the NBA playoffs.

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