Bojan Bogdanovich, Pacers Agree to 2-Year Contract After Wizards Give Up Rights

Bojan Bogdanovic became an unrestricted free agent Friday afternoon after the Washington Wizards withdrew their qualifying offer to the restricted free agent, according to David Aldridge of NBA.com.

He wasn't a free agent for long, however. Almost immediately following that news, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reported that Bogdanovic and the Indiana Pacers had agreed to a two-year, $21 million deal. Washington later renounced Bogdanovic, allowing him to join Indiana, per Wojnarowski.

Bogdanovic, 28, averaged 12.7 points and 3.1 rebounds in 26 games for the Wizards in the regular season, coming off the bench for the team after being acquired in a trade with the Brooklyn Nets. He averaged 8.8 points and 4.3 rebounds in the postseason.

His ability to score from the perimeter—he's a career 36.9 percent shooter from beyond the arc—made him a logical addition to an Indiana team that is looking to retool the roster after trading Paul George to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis.

The move leaves the Pacers with a core group of Myles Turner, Thaddeus Young, rookie T.J. Leaf, free-agent signing Darren Collison, Oladipo, Bogdanovic and Sabonis.

While the Pacers haven't improved this offseason—it's hard to improve after losing a superstar—the team still has a roster built around a young talent like Turner that can compete for a playoff spot in the weakened Eastern Conference.

As for the Wizards, it was unlikely they would bring back Bogdanovic due to their expected desire to match Otto Porter Jr.'s offer sheet from the Brooklyn Nets, as Tim Bontemps of the Washington Post and Bobby Marks of ESPN noted:

With Porter about to cost the Wizards $106 million if they match Brooklyn's offer, per Shams Charania of The Vertical, there wasn't going to be money to retain Bogdanovic as well.