Pacers Waive Travis Diener, Reportedly To Sign With Blazers

by Tom Lewis on Mar 1, 2010 12:36 PM EST in Indiana Pacers News

The Indiana Pacers announced today that they waived seldom-used point guard, Travis Diener.

"We want to thank Travis for his time with us," said Pacers President of Basketball Larry Bird. "Unfortunately, he struggled with injuries while with us and that held him back. He’s a tough player who I’m sure will contribute somewhere in the NBA. We wish him the best."

Diener only played in four games this season, bouncing bouncing back and forth between the active and inactive roster for games. A toe injury kept him sidelined early in the season but he appeared to be healthy enough to play if needed over the past couple of months.

Unless something strange happened behind the scenes, this is likely the Pacers offering Diener an out to sign with another team where he may have a chance to play. There's no doubt Diener wasn't happy with his situation on the roster, simply because he didn't have a chance to play. Rookie A.J. Price pushed Diener out of the picture for playing time this season and any available second of time Price doesn't play at this point is a crime against humanity.

Diener was set to be a free agent at the end of this season.

UPDATE: According to Woj, once through waivers, Diener expects to sign with the Portland Trail Blazers. Larry Bird definitely did Travis a solid.

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I’ve basically forgotten about Diener. Never really cared for the dude, mostly cause he played so little.

Not a big deal.

by Sparhawk on Mar 1, 2010 12:45 PM EST reply actions

why wold portland want diener?

they might as well sign me. ill be brandon roy’s practice dummy for the league minimum. hell, i even have the benefit of 10 healthy toes.

If Youre not First, Youre Last

by drsuessrunner07 on Mar 1, 2010 1:28 PM EST reply actions

Yeah

Blazers traded Blake and got Blake-lite in return!

by jantz101 on Mar 1, 2010 1:40 PM EST up reply actions

good one!

by wayno on Mar 1, 2010 4:20 PM EST up reply actions

The way this franchise works, he’ll end up being a star in Portland and lead them deep in the playoffs this year. Seems that every decision we make lately always ends up biting us in the ass.

Indy Cornrows

by spstevenson on Mar 1, 2010 2:43 PM EST up reply actions

Wonder if the Pacers will bother to fill the roster spot

Indy Cornrows

by Tom Lewis on Mar 1, 2010 1:43 PM EST reply actions

i wouldnt think so, dont we have an extra second rounder this year anyways?

If Youre not First, Youre Last

by drsuessrunner07 on Mar 1, 2010 2:32 PM EST up reply actions

We have two seconds

And I agree I doubt we will. I wouldn’t mind looking at some guys from the d-league and giving a couple of guys tryouts, but with Obie not even giving work to A.J. (or McBobs), I doubt anyone we signed would see any game time. Probably best we don’t even bother.

by Nathan S. on Mar 1, 2010 4:37 PM EST up reply actions

If someone is scoring at home

Best of luck Travis.

Totally worth it to sign you to a long term multi-million dollar deal WITH A 3RD YEAR PLAYER OPTION no less. You were a really hot commodity on the Free Agent market that year.

" Tell me something Steve, How does a guy from Puerto Rico loose a ball in the Sun? "

by aaronb on Mar 1, 2010 2:56 PM EST reply actions

Not upset

A little disappointed we lose the Dienermobile, but I had pretty much fallen out of favor with the guy when I heard how he was spending his summer. Yeah, it was cute, but no wonder he fell out of the rotation if he’s pimping out crappy cars instead of spending all summer in the gym.

Wonder what he can really offer Portland, but we’ll see. Best of luck to him in the future!

by Nathan S. on Mar 1, 2010 4:33 PM EST reply actions