19:22: The signing is official, the team at a confirms press release.
13:58: Free forward James Johnson agreed to sign a non-guaranteed training camp contract with Pacerssources tell Jake Fisher of The Stein Line and Bleacher Report (Link to Twitter).
The deal will include Exhibition 9 language, according to Tony East of Circle City Spin (Link to Twitter), who says the 39-year-old was in Nashville with the Pacers for their player-only minicamp and will be in training camp with the team next week.
Known for his physicality and toughness, Johnson accumulated 16 years of NBA service with 10 teams from 2009-2025. He is the 16th overall prospect in 2009 and has career averages of 7.4 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.0 assists in 19.8 minutes per game over 786 regular season games.
From 2022, Johnson is primarily a valuable presence in the locker room and a little-used reserve for the Pacers. He played just 39 times in the regular season from 2022 to 2025, logging 246 minutes of playing time during that stretch, and appeared in five contests during the team’s run to the NBA Finals in the spring of 2025.
As East points out, Johnson said last summer that he had no intention of retiring, but the Pacers didn’t have a roster spot for him last season, so he was out of the league as his previous contract expired on June 30, 2025.
Indiana currently has just $2.2 million in cap space below the first apron hard cap, with 14 players on guaranteed standard contracts. The free agent’s minimum-salary contract carries a cap hit of $2.45 million, so unless the club makes a trade to shed some salary, there won’t be enough cap space to keep Johnson on the roster for prime night.
However, the Pacers will be able to add a 15th man to the veteran’s pro-minimum deal as of Nov. 5, so it’s possible Johnson could return at that point or later in the season. This is nothing new for him — he signed four separate contracts with Indiana between December and February during the 2023-24 season, including a non-guaranteed contract, two 10-day contracts and eventually a deal for the rest of the season.
