Sources: Justin Holiday agrees to three-year deal with Pacers
The veteran forward will receive an average of $6 million per season.
Justin Holiday isn’t going anywhere. Just before midnight on the first night of free agency, the Pacers reached agreement with the forward on a three-year deal, per league sources.
The deal is worth $18.8 million and does not include a team or player option, a source said.
At 31, he’s the oldest player on the Pacers — and was the only one to play in all 73 games last season. He was the Swiss Army knife, valued for his leadership, experience and versatility. He averaged 8.5 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game and shot a career-best 40.5 percent from beyond the arc.
The Pacers already had 12 players under contract for next season and Holiday was the only player in the rotation who was not. Re-signing Holiday was a priority for the Pacers.
“We weren’t very aggressive in pursuing anything in the first round this year,” GM Chad Buchanan said Wednesday after the draft. “We hope to have a lot of continuity with our roster.”
Free agents may begin signing contracts at 12:01 p.m. ET on Sunday. Only then does it become official.
Last offseason, before coming to Indy to play with his youngest brother Aaron for the first time, Justin was hoping to receive a multi-year deal. He did not.
After his consistency last season on a good contract ($4.7 million), Holiday had a strong market entering free agency. He’s been in Indy and wanted to return. Armed with a new agent, it’s the first multi-year deal of his career.
What he wanted.