NBA-National Basketball Association roundup

March 7 (The Sports Xchange) - The Indiana Pacers officially signed point guard Ty Lawson on Monday to add bench depth. Terms of the contract with the free agent were not announced. The move comes after Lawson was bought out by the Houston Rockets last week. The Pacers requested waivers for forward Chase Budinger on Saturday to create a roster spot for Lawson. The team reached a buyout agreement with Budinger that was finalized Friday night. The 5-foot-11, 195-pound Lawson is in his seventh year in the NBA. He played his first six seasons with the Denver Nuggets before Houston acquired him last summer. He averaged 5.8 points per game and 3.4 assists with the Rockets in 53 games this season before the Rockets waived him. The Pacers (33-30) are currently seventh in the Eastern Conference standings as they hope to make a playoff run. --- The NBA fined Boston Celtics guard Marcus Smart $15,000 for making an obscene gesture. The incident occurred with 1:49 remaining in the third quarter of the Celtics' 105-104 win over the New York Knicks on March 4 at TD Garden. --- Milwaukee point guard Michael Carter-Williams will miss the rest of the season due to a hip injury and undergo surgery on Thursday. The team released a statement saying Carter-Williams will have surgery for a torn labrum in his left hip in Vail, Colo. His recovery time is expected to be three months. Carter-Williams, 24 has played 54 games this season and made 37 starts while averaging 11.5 points, 5.1 rebounds and 5.2 assists. --- The Philadelphia 76ers claimed guard-forward Sonny Weems off of waivers. Weems has appeared in 176 career games in four NBA seasons and has posted averages of 7.0 points a 2.0 rebounds in 19 minutes per game. He played overseas from 2011-2015, before returning the NBA this season with Phoenix where he appeared in 36 games and averaged three points in 12 minutes per game. (Editing by Larry Fine) ))