LAS VEGAS — Obi Toppin is back with the Indiana Pacers. After hitting free agency this summer for the first time, the 26-year old agreed to re-sign with the blue and gold on a four-year, $60 million deal in late June.
As reported here, Toppin’s deal has $58 million guaranteed with some incentives. There are no options in the deal, so barring a trade, the forward is tied to Indiana through the 2027-28 season.
“We’re confident he will play a key role for us moving forward,” Pacers President of Basketball Operations Kevin Pritchard said of the agreement. Toppin was a restricted free agent, which made it easier for Indiana to keep him around.
The Dayton product was at Universal Studios when the deal finally came all together. He’s spent some of the offseason in the Los Angeles area, and his family was around when he got the call about his contract. He instantly told everyone.
It happened on June 30, before free agency even opened up. Toppin knew he wanted to return, and it got done. “Yeah, one thousand percent,” he told Pacers on SI if his early feeling was leaning toward a return. “I was talking to coach and telling him, ‘I can’t go [anywhere]. I’ve got to stay’. So having the opportunity to be here is amazing.”
The Brooklyn native was traded to the Pacers from the New York Knicks last July for two second-round draft picks. The hope was that he would be a great transition weapon for the blue and gold, but he turned out to be much more. Toppin knocked down outside shots and was a serviceable reserve center at key moments for Indiana.
“Indiana is amazing. Me going there, the experience that I had was amazing. I felt like the energy that I brought, everybody liked, the team liked,” Toppin said of his free agency. “They wanted me to come back. I wanted to come back, too. So I was super happy that we came to an agreement.”
In his first season with the blue and gold, Toppin averaged 10.3 points and 3.9 rebounds per game. He buried over 40% of his outside shots and mixed in well with either the starting five or the reserves. He was a versatile player, and his improvements as a jump shooter were massive.
When it came to his free agency priorities, Toppin kept thinking about the relationships he had with his teammates. They are close in age and have similar interests, and they just had a special season. It was difficult to leave that environment.
“I just felt like the year that we had was amazing. Everybody was just so bonded. Tyrese [Haliburton], Myles [Turner], (and) Pascal [Siakam] did a great job keeping the team together. Everybody was just so glued together doing good things,” Toppin said. “We had to keep the team what it was. For me to come back, for Pascal to come back, everybody else is gonna come back. It’s going be amazing.”
The Pacers outscored opponents by 3.83 points per 100 possessions with Toppin on the floor last season. Their offense was incredible in those moments. He’s a tough matchup for many different types of frontcourt players.
His defense needs to get better, as does some of his connective play. The Pacers have been strong at developing players in recent years, which played a big role in their ability to lure James Wiseman in free agency. Toppin should continue to get better — he’s been hitting the gym three times a day for six days a week during the offseason. He’s been working with trainer Chris Johnson — he does weight work early in the day before coming back for shooting work.
The Pacers had several players shoot Toppin messages in an attempt to keep him around. He mentioned hearing from Turner, Siakam, and Haliburton throughout the offseason, and now the team is largely back together.
“We understand what we can do as a team, and we understand that going into next year, we have a target on our back,” Toppin said. “So we’ve got to go in there and just do what we do best and have fun.”
It means the world to Toppin to be able to run it back with this group. His career took off with the Pacers, and he couldn’t imagine playing anywhere else going forward. He joins Jarace Walker, Aaron Nesmith, Siakam, Haliburton, and Ben Sheppard, and Johnny Furphy as players under contract with the blue and gold for the next three seasons.
“Very happy with the fit. He seems to be happy here too as well. Would like to continue the relationship,” Pacers general manager Chad Buchanan said of Toppin early in the offseason. Those feelings proved to be mutual, and Toppin is exactly where he wanted to be thanks to free agency.
Source link : https://www.si.com/nba/pacers/roster/obi-toppin-couldn-t-imagine-signing-anywhere-but-with-the-indiana-pacers-in-free-agency
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Publish date : 2024-07-14 17:02:32
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