INDIANAPOLIS (AP) _ Indiana Pacers forward Shawne Williams was arrested Tuesday on charges of marijuana possession and driving without a license after an officer pulled over a sport utility vehicle for making an illegal lane change.

Williams, the Pacers' first-round draft pick last year from Memphis, was being held at the Marion County Jail on initial charges of possession of marijuana, driving without a license, driving with an expired license plate and failure to signal a lane change, police said.

Telephone messages seeking comment were left Tuesday for a Pacers spokesman and Williams' agent, Bill McCandless.

Williams was driving the SUV, which was carrying two other men, for changing lanes without signalling about 12:45 a.m., said Sgt. Matthew Mount, a city police spokesman.

When Williams rolled down the driver's side window, the officer detected a strong odour of marijuana, Mount said. Another officer later found a smouldering cigar-sized marijuana cigarette in the vehicle's ash tray, he said.

Both Williams and the front seat passenger, Roosevelt Rollins, of Memphis, Tenn., were arrested on marijuana possession charges.

``The guy in the front passenger seat, Mr. Rollins, said the marijuana was his and Mr. Williams denied knowledge of the marijuana even being in his car even though you could obviously smell the odour of burnt marijuana,'' Mount said.

Mount said Williams had no driver's license and instead handed the officer a Tennessee identification card. He said the SUV's license plate had expired in July.

The SUV's back seat passenger was arrested on charges of carrying a gun without a license and theft as the 9 mm handgun had been reported stolen in Collierville, Tenn., according to a police report.

The six-foot-nine Williams averaged 3.9 points and 1.8 rebounds in 46 games last season for the Pacers.