The dog days are supposed to be quiet. Instead the last week gave us a roster swap and a new broadcast home for the upcoming season.

Thompson goes to Belgrade

Ethan Thompson is a Pacer no more. Indiana waived him from his two-way deal on August 13, and a few days later he signed a two-year, one-plus-one contract with KK Partizan of the EuroLeague.

He earned the goodwill he got here. Thompson appeared in 32 games last season with 13 starts, averaging 7.0 points, 2.2 rebounds and 1.8 assists in 20.4 minutes, on .378/.328/.787 splits. He scored 11 in his third game and put up a career-high 24 against Chicago on April 1.

The math was simply unkind, as it often is to fringe players. Jalen Slawson and Kobe Brown signed their two-way deals in July, which left one slot and two candidates. Belgrade is a real opportunity and he'll be playing in front of a raucous Partizan crowd. Good luck, Ethan.

Braden Smith, officially

That vacated slot went where everyone assumed it would. The Pacers signed Braden Smith to a two-way contract on Monday, roughly two months after acquiring his draft rights.

In Summer League he averaged 6.8 points, 7.2 assists and 4.4 rebounds across five games. On a two-way he'll spend a chunk of the season with the Boom, which is fine — that's what the deal is for.

DAZN, and what it'll cost you

The Pacers announced Thursday that DAZN is the team's new exclusive local broadcast home, a five-year agreement running through 2030-31. This ends the limbo that started in April when Main Street Sports Group wound down FanDuel Sports Network Indiana, which had carried 72 regular-season games last year.

The details, since that's what you actually want:

  • A Pacers-branded service launches inside the DAZN app in early September
  • 22 regular-season games and all four preseason games are free
  • 15 of those 22 are expected to simulcast over the air — the local partner hasn't been named yet
  • The other 49 games sit behind a season pass at $119.99, or $59.99 if you sign up before October 15
  • Monthly Flex runs $19.99, Flex Ultimate $24.99
  • The local package covers Indiana, Kentucky, Iowa, Illinois and Missouri
  • Games exclusive to ABC, ESPN, NBC, Peacock or Prime Video aren't on DAZN. Indiana has 11 national games this season

The Pacers will produce the broadcasts themselves, with pre- and post-game coverage, highlights and behind-the-scenes content. This means we'll be getting the same broadcast team we know and love.

Still, how long this deal lasts is an open question. The league is building a centralized streaming hub for local broadcasts, targeted at 2027-28, and every DAZN team deal is believed to include an exit after this coming season. So, we could be watching on DAZN for the next five years or on Youtube next year. Not that it matters too much to most of us.

And now: Blind Résumé No. 3

New puzzle below.

You know the drill. Five clues, revealed one at a time. Lock in a guess or pass. Paste your results in the comments when you're done.

The first clue comes courtesy of Life in Paradise and (unfortunately) it's a wide field.

But first, the standings:

  1. NortheastNightmare - 100 pts
  2. Infinityzero.Systemerror - 100 pts
  3. Life in Paradise - 100 pts
  4. Kahonu - 100 pts
  5. DetlefBest - 80 pts
  6. Hoosiers47 - 80 pts
  7. Full Sail - 55 pts
  8. Rubalamp - 45 pts
  9. BillyNightNight - 40 pts
  10. RandomPacersFan - 0 pts

The Quiz

Offseason Blind Résumé · No. 3
Name the Pacer
Five clues, revealed one at a time. Lock a guess or pass — either way, you can't come back to it. Earlier you call it, more it's worth.
Clue 1 of 5 · worth 50

Locked answers are final. A wrong guess costs 5 and you keep going.

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