Whoops! The Indiana Pacers’ front-office, in their infinite wisdom, did not ask center Andrew Bynum to pass a physical prior to inking the big fella to a reported $1 million deal on Feb.1. Bynum’s misadventure with the Pacers came to an end this week. Per the Indy Star (via PBT):
After the Pacers’ Game 4 first-round playoff win in Atlanta, Bynum was asked if he would return soon and he responded, “I don’t know.” Though Bynum had attended practices and sat on the end of the bench during games, he has not been with the team since at least Game 7 against Atlanta.
The Pacers, who did not administer a physical to Bynum until after he signed the contract, entered this relationship with high hopes. At times, however, players and coaches tempered their excitement due to Bynum’s long history of health issues.
“This is what we signed up for,” Vogel said during the days leading up to Bynum going on the inactive list indefinitely. “We knew he was a great player with some problem-area knees (who was) going to be in some times and out some times. We’re fully aware of that and we’ll be excited whenever we have him in uniform.”
Bynum has only played in 26 games over the past three seasons. Last summer, Bynum signed with the Cleveland Cavaliers but was suspended for disciplinary reasons in December. According to Bynum, he was kicked out of practice when he launched a shot from midcourt, clearly out of the rhythm of the offensive play. Another day during a scrimmage, he did not like a call from assistant coach Phil Handy and mocked him as “a horrible referee.”
Bynum was traded to Chicago in January and immediately released, allowing the Pacers to sign him.
Bynum’s agent, David Lee, did not return a phone message left on Wednesday. Before the team released a statement about Bynum, his older brother, Corey Thomas, said that he did not have “insight” into why Bynum was no longer around the team.
