Pacers Waive Former Celtics Rival and Local Star

Bobby Krivitsky | Oct 19, 2024

Oct 18, 2023; Miami, Florida, USA; Miami Heat forward Cole Swider (21) dunks the ball against the Brooklyn Nets during the second half at Kaseya Center. Mandatory Credit: Rich Storry-Imagn Images / Rich Storry-Imagn Images

As teams finalize their rosters for the start of the upcoming campaign, the Boston Celtics, predictably, waived Lonnie Walker IV.

The former first-round pick was on an Exhibit 10 deal with the reigning champions. Converting that into a standard contract would have resulted in a roughly $10 million tax hit. That made their decision the expected outcome.

The Celtics can give Walker a bonus if he joins their G League affiliate. It's a path he stated he is willing to take.

Elsewhere in the Association, the Indiana Pacers announced that they waived Cole Swider.

Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images

The 25-year-old from Portsmouth, Rhode Island, started his NBA career as an undrafted free agent who earned a two-way deal with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2022.

He spent last season on a two-way pact with the Miami Heat. He averaged 2.3 points while shooting 39.5 percent from the field and 33.3 percent from beyond the arc.

Swider also suited up for the Heat at Summer League in Las Vegas, where the six-foot-nine sharpshooter produced 13.5 points per contest and converted the nearly seven three-point attempts per game he hoisted at a 49.1 percent clip.

Indiana also announced: "We exercised the fourth-year option on the rookie scale contract of guard/forward Bennedict Mathurin and the third-year option on the rookie scale contracts of forward Jarace Walker and guard Ben Sheppard."

The Pacers are coming off a campaign where they reached the Eastern Conference Finals, where the Celtics swept them in Boston's most competitive playoff series en route to Banner 18.