Why This Trade Makes Sense For The Indiana Pacers

This trade from the Pacers’ perspective makes sense for two main reasons. First, getting rid of Victor Oladipo can help this team long-term since they did not commit to a contract-extension with him last year and second, they need to continue bringing in young talent to compliment their core group.

Victor Oladipo, when he has been healthy, has been great for the Indiana Pacers over the years, but in the last three seasons with them, he has only played in 130 games. This is definitely a concern moving forward for the Pacers and is likely why they decided not to re-sign him yet. 

Re-evaluating him through the first-half of the season is likely what the Pacers plan on doing and if they truly believe he can help them in their championship aspirations, then he will not be on the move, but all indications point to him being traded at some point during the season. While trading Oladipo and Lamb leaves this team thin on the wing, the addition of Tobias Harris could actually work out in their favor.

Tobias Harris seems to get bashed a lot for his play with the Sixers and is honestly kind of undervalued. He is a very reliable forward in today’s game and a proven scorer. He may not be the flashiest name or a big time scorer, but he is a guy that you usually know what you are going to get with him night-in and night-out.

Pairing Warren, Sabonis and Turner up with Tobias Harris gives the Indiana Pacers a bigger team overall and a tough team to guard in the paint. Harris does bring a hefty contract that will tie up the Pacers finances for years to come, which is definitely something that has to be considered before agreeing to this trade, as he is owed just under $150M over the next four years. 

Overall, trading away Victor Oladipo seems to be the avenue the Pacers are going and by getting two draft picks in next year’s draft, along with Tobias Harris does not set them back at all and helps them win games now.