Does this trade make sense for the Indiana Pacers?
The Indiana Pacers will not be undergoing a long-term rebuild so trading away two quality veteran players in Malcolm Brogdon and TJ Warren in their prime for 21-year-old Tyler Herro is a non-starter.
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It’s difficult to envision the Pacers being all that intrigued by the outlook of a trade scenario unless they felt it was time to move on from Malcolm Brogdon and felt as though the odds of retaining TJ Warren when he becomes a free agent in 2022 are just non-existent.
Even if the Pacers were intending to undergo a rebuild, landing just Tyler Herro as the lone intriguing long-term piece would not be the way to go. Unless, of course, Indiana was much higher on Herro’s potential than what most appear to be.
The clear benefit of this trade would be to clear salary cap spending for the upcoming season and for the next few seasons. The assumption would be that other key trades would subsequently follow this one in order to move on from players like Myles Turner, Caris LeVert, or even Domantas Sabonis, depending how aggressive this hypothetical rebuild would be.
The Pacers would be able to land better NBA Draft assets with a different trade suitor other than the Miami Heat, which doesn’t appear to be a desired outcome since they like to compete every season. Again, Indiana would need to be enamored with Tyler Herro, which it’s tough to see being the case.
