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Indiana Pacers To Ink C.J. Miles

By Gerald Bourguet

Jan 5, 2014; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers shooting guard C.J. Miles (0) shoots a reverse layup in the third quarter against the Indiana Pacers at Quicken Loans Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 5, 2014; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers shooting guard C.J. Miles (0) shoots a reverse layup in the third quarter against the Indiana Pacers at Quicken Loans Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports /
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Re-signing Lance Stephenson just got a little bit more complicated.

According to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, the Indiana Pacers will sign nine-year veteran C.J. Miles to a four-year, $18 million deal when they are able to on July 10. Candace Buckner of The Indy Star originally reported Miles and the Pacers had agreed to a deal.

Miles averaged 9.9 points in 19.3 minutes per game last season with the Cleveland Cavaliers. He started in 34 of the 51 games he played in and shot 39.3 percent from three-point range. A sprained left ankle held him out of the final 14 games of the season, but the Pacers must have been impressed with Miles when he lit them up for 21 points on 8-of-13 shooting in the teams’ third meeting in January.

This signing provides Indiana with some much-needed bench punch after Luis Scola fizzled for most of the 2013-14 season. Miles will be able to knock down threes, something the Pacers desperately need since they ranked 22nd in the NBA in made threes per game last season. It was only five months ago C.J. Miles, or “3J” as he was affectionately called in Cleveland, was setting a Cavaliers franchise record with 10 three-pointers in a game:

C.J. Miles might be a tad bit overpaid, but the big news here is that the Pacers are rapidly running out of cap room to be able to re-sign Lance Stephenson.  Stephenson, an unrestricted free agent this summer, reportedly turned down a five-year, $44 million offer from Indiana, even after Larry Bird and the Pacers brass took him and his family to a local theater and showed them a heartfelt video tribute on Stephenson himself.

It’s been a busy day for the Pacers, who also signed stretch-4 Damjan Rudez earlier Wednesday. For a team that desperately needed perimeter shooting last season, the Pacers have done pretty well today to take steps toward fixing that problem. Now we wait to see what comes next with Stephenson:

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