With the Pacers off Saturday and the roster nearly back to full health, the team has assigned a pair of young players to the G League so they can stay fresh and get some game reps. Center Goga Bitadze and forward Alize Johnson will join the Mad Ants for Saturday night's game against the Erie BayHawks in Fort Wayne.
Bitadze has averaged 3.5 points and 2.6 rebounds over 20 games this season. The Pacers took the 20-year-old center with the 18th overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft. This is the first time he has been assigned to the Mad Ants. The Sagarejo, Georgia native has played in eight of the Pacers' last nine games but has not played double-digit minutes in any of those contests — the last time he eclipsed the 10-minute mark was on November 27 against Utah, when he played 11:32.
Johnson, a 23-year-old Missouri State product, is in his second season with the Pacers after being selected with the No. 50 overall pick in last year's draft. This is the second time he has been assigned to Fort Wayne in 2019-20 after spending the majority of his rookie campaign with the Mad Ants. Johnson has played in just eight games with the Pacers this season but has yet to see more than 10 minutes in a game, and hasn't played in a game at all since his 30-second cameo in the Pacers' December 2 win over the Grizzlies. He's averaging 1.6 points and 1.5 rebounds per game with the Pacers and scored 36 points with 14 boards in a one-game stint with the Mad Ants on November 24.
