The Indiana Pacers announced Thursday they have waived Duane Washington, Jr., Nik Stauskas, Malik Fitts and Juwan Morgan.

Washington was the first player that head coach Chris Holtmann recruited at OSU to sign an NBA contract. 

Washington took a chance and entered the NBA draft. Eventhough he was not selected in the 2021 NBA draft, Washington, the 22-year-old, who was born in Frankfurt, Germany, signed a two-way contract with the Pacers, splitting time with their G League affiliate, the Fort Wayne Mad Ants. On January 24, 2022, Washington scored a team-high 21 points, knocking down seven 3-pointers, setting a franchise record for most threes by a rookie while becoming the 36th rookie in the league history to hit seven threes in a game. On April 7, the Pacers converted his two-way contract into a standard one. Overall, as a rookie, Washington averaged 9.9 points, 1.7 rebounds and 1.8 assists in 20.2 minutes per game coming off the bench during his rookie year. He shot 40.5% from the field and 37.7% from 3-point range. Most NBA experts had heard that his play as a rookie, put him in future plans of the Pacers.

On July 14, 2022, Washington was released by the Pacers.

COURTESY INDIANA PACERS COMMUNICATIONS AND WIKIPEDIA COMMONS