Former Syracuse player Cole Swider signs with NBA team one day after being waived by another

Syracuse, N.Y. ― After spending the NBA’s preseason with the Indiana Pacers, Cole Swider will begin the season with the Detroit Pistons.
Swider, the former Syracuse basketball forward, had signed a non-guaranteed contract with Indiana late in the summer. The contract brought Swider to the Pacers’ training camp. He played well during the preseason, averaging 7.8 points per game, raising the possibility that the team might sign him to a roster spot.
However, Indiana waived Swider after its final preseason game on Friday.
The Detroit Pistons, a division rival of the Pacers, swooped in a day later, signing Swider to a two-way contract.
Coincidentally, Detroit opens up the 2024-25 season with a home game on Wednesday against the Indiana Pacers. Swider, however, is not likely to be on the Pistons’ active roster for the game as he appears headed to the club’s G-League affiliate to start the start the season. Detroit’s G-League affiliate is the Motor City Cruise.
Swider played at Syracuse during the 2021-22 season after beginning his college career at Villanova. Swider averaged 13.9 points and made 41.1% of his 3-point attempts for the Orange.
He has spent the last two years with the Los Angeles Lakers and the Miami Heat, dividing his time between the NBA and the G-League.
Over the last two seasons in the G-League, playing for the South Bay Lakers and the Sioux Falls Skyforce, Swider averaged 19.8 points, 6 rebounds, and 2.3 assists. He shot 51.1% from the field and 46.1% from beyond the arc.
The NBA allows teams to sign players to two-way deals to bolster their roster while not paying a full-time contract. Two-way contracts are for players with less than four years of NBA experience. Teams can have no more than three players on two-way deals.
For the 2024-25 season, a two-way contract pays half the NBA minimum salary, which means a salary of roughly $580,000.
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