Former Blazers Center Signs With Eastern Conference Team

A Portland alum has landed his next NBA opportunity.

Jan 17, 2023; Denver, Colorado, USA; Detailed view of a Portland Trail Blazers logo warmup jersey before the game against the Denver Nuggets at Ball Arena. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images / Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

A Portland Trail Blazers alum has landed his next NBA opportunity.

Center Moses Brown has agreed to a deal with the Indiana Pacers, sources inform Shams Charania of ESPN. With a recent injury to 3-and-D starting center Myles Turner and probably season-ending Achilles tendon tears for his backups Isaiah Jackson and James Wiseman, Indiana is desperate for big man help.

Turner is dealing with a sore right calf.

Indiana head coach Rick Carlisle recently revealed that he anticipates Turner will return at some point this week, per Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star.

"It's hopefully not a long-term thing," Carlisle said. "Wednesday [against the Houston Rockets] might be a possibility. If not then we hope Friday [against the struggling Milwaukee Bucks, who have gone 3-1 in their last four games to improve their record to a still-bad 5-9] and if not, then we hope Sunday [against the lowly Washington Wizards]. An oblique strain ... they're painful. The oblique is like a cracked rib, it only hurts when you breathe, that kind of thing. But this is not a serious one to my knowledge and to our knowledge."

The 6-8 Pacers have gotten off to a somewhat rocky start to their 2024-25 season, fresh off a surprise run to the 2024 Eastern Conference Finals as a No. 6 seed. All-NBA point guard Tyrese Haliburton has had an inconsistent go of it of late, as pundits have speculated that a hamstring injury he incurred last year could be lingering.

Brown, 25, went undrafted out of UCLA in 2019. After an encouraging preseason run with Portland as a training camp signing, Brown was promoted to a two-way deal with the franchise. While Portland weathered some major injury issues to veteran centers Jusuf Nurkic and Pau Gasol (yes, Pau Gasol was once on the Trail Blazers), Brown was often toggled between G League club the Texas Legends (the Trail Blazers' NBAGL affiliate squad, the Rip City Remix, did not yet exist) and Portland proper in 2019-20.

During his first season with the Trail Blazers, Brown appeared in nine games, averaging 1.2 points on 40 percent field goal shooting and 37.5 percent free throw shooting, and 1.6 rebounds.

Brown did get better, bouncing around between the Oklahoma City Thunder, Dallas Mavericks, Cleveland Cavaliers, and Brooklyn Nets from 2020-23 on various short-term deals. He returned to the Trail Blazers for the club's ill-fated 2023-24 season, averaging 3.4 points on 50.8 percent shooting from the floor and 29 percent shooting from the foul line and 3.9 rebounds.

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