The Indiana Pacers are parting ways with guard Lance Stephenson Authentic Benoit Pouliot Jersey , the gritty veteran who brought energy off the bench in last season’s surprising run to the playoffs.

The team will not pick up the team option next season, Pacers President of Basketball Operations Kevin Pritchard said Monday.

”This was a very difficult decision, but as free agency begins on July 1, we want to have flexibility so that we can prepare for all of our available options,” he said.

A year ago, Pritchard decided to trade star Paul George before almost surely losing him in free agency and got Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis from Oklahoma City in a deal that turned out remarkably well for Indiana.

Oladipo emerged as a leader, earned his first All-Star trip and won the league’s steals title. Sabonis Aleksander Barkov Jersey , a lottery pick in 2016, became a key contributor off the bench. Point guard Darren Collison was the NBA’s most accurate 3-point shooter, and Thaddeus Young and Bojan Bogdanovic thrived in their roles, too. Myles Turner, Indiana’s 22-year-old center, was one of the league’s leaders in blocks.

Four of the starting five and Sabonis are already under contract for next season, with Young being the lone exception. He and backup point guard Cory Joseph have player options.

Now Pritchard has decided to part with

Stephenson brought grit off the bench for a team that won 48 games Authentic Shea Weber Jersey , fell just short of finishing in the top four in the Eastern Conference and was within four points late in a first-round, Game 7 loss to Cleveland. Stephenson, an eight-year veteran, finished the season averaging 9.2 points, 5.2 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game.

The decision was no doubt wrenching for a team that bonded in finishing strong: Six players approached Pritchard before the trade deadline and pleaded with the GM not to make any moves because they wanted to close out the season together. Pritchard said it a first for him, and kept the team intact.

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It’s good that the Vikings won’t be scrapping the last workout of their offseason program. Their new quarterback thinks he needs it.

Kirk Cousins wasn’t pleased with his performance on Wednesday, the second day of a three-day minicamp.

鈥淚 was pretty salty walking off the field Brandon Montour Jersey Kids ,鈥?Cousins said, via Chris Tomasson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. 鈥淚鈥檓 really frustrated. I do not want to walk into the summer with a bad taste in my mouth about practice, so hopefully we can finish really strong [Thursday] and be feeling good going into the summer.

鈥淓ven one bad decision in practice kind of bothers me all afternoon, and I can be a bit of a grouch when I go home.鈥?/p>

The salt came from a third-down red-zone drill during which Cousins threw two interceptions in three plays.

But there’s a silver lining; Cousins is learning through trial and error what he can’t do.

“On the first one, I just couldn鈥檛 get all the way through the throw, so the ball died on me,” Cousins said. 鈥淭he second one Authentic Josh Manson Jersey , I was testing things a little bit and trying to see what I could get away with, and I learned pretty quickly that I can鈥檛 get away with that throw. . . .聽Some of the beauty of (spring drills) is that you can test and experiment. . . . You鈥檝e just got to learn from them.”

The learning continues into training camp, with Cousins still having plenty of time to get up to speed with his new teammates and his new offense as the Vikings try to build on what they did in 2017. And it’s still not clear what will count as success in 2018.

Ultimately, it’s not realistic to except the Vikings to at least get back to the NFC title game, especially since that’s something they’ve accomplished only six times in the last 40 years.

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