The Ben Simmons sweepstakes may have seen one team drop out earlier this week. With the NBA trade deadline for extensions being the eve of the regular season, teams were busy hammering out long-term deals with players right up until the deadline.
One of the teams that ended up making a deal was the Indiana Pacers. They agreed to a two-year extension with Malcolm Brogdon that was worth $45 million.
According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, that extension gives Brogdon a guaranteed $89.3 million over the next four seasons.
Brogdon is now locked into a new deal through 32-years of age. It also means that he will be with the Pacers for at least this season.
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As Bobby Marks pointed out, per NBA rules, Brogdon is now not allowed to be traded this season because his contract is for a total of four seasons; he had two years remaining and added two with the extension.
As a result, that would seemingly take one team out of the running when it comes to Simmons’s trade negotiations with the Philadelphia 76ers. The Pacers were one of the teams that emerged recently, as trade talks centered around Caris LeVert and Brogdon were being reported.
Unless Philadelphia holds onto Simmons throughout the 2021-22 season and they put off trading him until the next offseason, or the 76ers are going to aggressively pursue LeVert, a deal with the Pacers is now seemingly off the table.
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Brogdon has come into his own during his first two seasons in Indiana. He has been given more offensive freedom than he had with the Milwaukee Bucks to begin his career, culminating in a career-high 21.2 points per game last season.
Any long-term concerns the Indiana Pacers may have had about Malcolm Brogdon being their starting point guard must have been resolved, otherwise, they wouldn’t have signed him to an extension.
