Rodney Stuckey recently suffered an injury that might have both ended his season and his tenure with the Indiana Pacers. The team announced recently that Stuckey suffered a left patellar tendon injury which would keep him out possibly going into the playoffs. The Pacers are a team that doesn’t have time to waste on waiting for rotation players to get healthy. They’re going to be letting him go thanks to an unusual clause in his contract.
Last week, Zach Lowe of ESPN touched on the fact that the Pacers could waive Stuckey along with Monta Ellis and C.J. Miles before April 10th. With Stuckey recently suffering an injury, it appears he will be the victim of this rare clause.
Following comes from Shams Charania of The Vertical on Yahoo! Sports.
The Indiana Pacers are waiving injured guard Rodney Stuckey to clear a roster spot to potentially add a player, league sources told The Vertical.
The Pacers’ front office expressed contrition about releasing Stuckey at this point in the season, sources said, and believes both sides benefited from his nearly three seasons in Indiana.
Stuckey planned to opt out of his contract at the end of the season, sources said, but the Pacers needed to make the decision to open a roster spot to help their depleted bench.
Stuckey, a 10-year NBA veteran, initially joined the Pacers in 2014 on a minimum deal and turned it into a three-year, $21 million deal in 2015. Stuckey averaged 12.6 points, 3.6 assists and 2.9 rebounds in his career with Detroit and Indiana. This past season he averaged 17.8 minutes per game, 7.2 points with 2.2 rebounds and assists in 39 games played.
