Indiana Pacers

Pacers assign Leaf, Anigbogu to Mad Ants, swap two-way players

Published Dec. 16, 2017 4:29 p.m. ET

T.J. Leaf was assigned to the Fort Wayne Mad Ants of the NBA G League on Saturday.

All three of the Indiana Pacers' 2017 draft picks are headed to the NBA G-League.

The Pacers announced Saturday that they have assigned T.J. Leaf and Ike Anigbogu to the Fort Wayne Mad Ants of the G-League. Two-way player Edmond Sumner will join them while two-way player Alex Poythress will return to the Pacers from Fort Wayne.

Leaf was the Pacers' first pick in this year's draft, getting taken out of UCLA at pick No. 18. He's averaging 9.6 minutes, 3.3 points and 1.7 rebounds over 25 games this season. Anigbogu, his college teammate, was selected at No. 47 overall and has averaged 2.8 points, 0.7 points and 0.7 rebounds per game through six NBA contests. Anigbogu previously played in four games with the Mad Ants, averaging 23.5 minutes, 8.5 points and 6.8 rebounds per contest.

Sumner, who was selected with the No. 52 overall pick out of Xavier, has yet to play this season while recovering from knee and shoulder surgeries that he underwent in advance of the draft. He appears close to a return, though, and could begin playing with the Mad Ants soon.

Poythress, who joined the Mad Ants as an undrafted free agent out of Kentucky last year, has played in seven games for the Pacers this year, averaging 2.9 minutes, 0.9 points and 0.6 rebounds. In six games for the Mad Ants, he is averaging 33.4 minutes, 20.0 points and 9.0 rebounds.