Indiana Pacers 2023 second-round draft pick Mojave King playing for Indiana Mad Ants in 2023-24 season
Indiana Pacers 2023 second-round draft pick Mojave King will be playing for the Indiana Mad Ants in the coming season.
The 21-year old wing was drafted with the 47th overall pick in June's NBA Draft. Two days later, it was reported that King would be a draft-and-stash for the Pacers. They were dealing with a roster crunch at the time.
King played for the G League Ignite during the 2022-23 campaign and will return to the G League this season to continue his development. "We had two picks in the second round last night, Mojave King and Isaiah Wong... We're excited about both of those guys and adding them to our program," Indiana's general manager Chad Buchanan said the day after the draft.
The Mad Ants announced their roster for the coming season on Saturday, and King is on it. He's been in and around Indianapolis recently rehabbing an injury.
Back in July, the rookie played in five games for the Pacers during summer league. He averaged 4.0 points and 1.6 rebounds per game while shooting 31.6% from the field in five outings in Las Vegas.
"Pretty much wide open for me. I'm really just looking for the best situation for my development," King said back in July when asked where he would be playing in the coming season. Beyond his prior G League experience, King played professionally in both New Zealand and Australia.
King performed a pre-draft workout for Indiana on June 10, and he felt like that showing went well. He also enjoyed his conversations with team leaders over lunch that day. As he searched for the right home for his development, the Mad Ants had to stick out. The franchise that drafted King will certainly be interested in his long-term development.
Drafted rookies have started their career with the G League route before. Most recently, Marcus Zegarowski and RaiQuan Gray — the 49th and 59th overall picks in the 2021 NBA Draft by the Brooklyn Nets — didn't sign a deal with Brooklyn right away. They instead joined the Long Island Nets in the G League for their first season, and Gray would sign a two-way deal with the franchise over a full season later.
Isaiah Hartenstein (Houston), Abdel Nader (Boston), and Kevin Hervey (Oklahoma City) all followed a similar route. They were drafted in the second round, signed in the G League for year one, and later earned an NBA contract. Other drafted players have signed in the G League and never reached the NBA, though. Zegarowski is one of them.
By going this route, the Pacers will maintain King's draft rights for a year. Had he come into training camp and been waived, Indiana would have lost his rights. No other franchise can sign King to an NBA deal during the 2023-24 campaign unless Indiana renounces his draft rights. Next offseason, the Pacers will have to submit King the required tender, a one-year NBA contract that isn't guaranteed, to keep his draft rights.
The Mad Ants play their first game on November 11, and if King is healthy, he could be suiting up in the Pacers organization after all. Indiana's G League club is going to be using Pacers facilities all season, so the Pacers will get an up-close look at King even without having him on the roster.
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