Does this trade make sense for the Indiana Pacers?
Moving Myles Turners, as stated before, is not something the Indiana Pacers are looking to do right now, but trade rumors for the Pacers’ big man have existed for years now. At some point, reports of the Pacers gauging his trade interest need to be true and this season, we could finally see Indiana move on from their defensive big man.
While he has the potential to be a great offensive talent, they just do not seem to want to utilize him on this end of the floor and as a result, his numbers do not look as good as they could. In terms of defense, Myles Turner led the league in blocked shots two of the last three seasons and he can absolutely continue being a Defensive Player of the Year type of center, regardless of where he plays.
However, Indiana needs more scoring weapons, especially with all the injuries they are dealing with, hence why they could leverage Turner for said assets right now. Ivica Zubac is a young, polished and strong center who would fit in really well next to Sabonis in this team’s offensive and defensive attack and rookie Keon Johnson is an intriguing prospect.
Johnson is not a high-level scoring threat coming out of college and is still a very raw prospect, but he is one of the best athletes in the 2021 draft class and could be a guy on the wing the Pacers could potentially build into a really strong contributor for years to come.
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Marvin Bagley III comes from a toxic situation in Sacramento, but in Indiana, he would immediately become a key contributor in their frontcourt. Injuries have limited Bagley’s effectiveness early on in his career, but the potential is there for the 22-year-old power-forward who was drafted 2nd overall in 2018 and the Indiana Pacers need more talent next to and behind Sabonis in their depth chart.
He has shot 50% from the floor early on in his career and is still learning as a young talent in this league, giving Bagley time to develop this season potentially next to an All-Star like Domantas Sabonis.
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Being in the final year of his rookie contract, the Pacers would not be tied down to Bagley long-term and if they like his fit in their system, they would be able to extend him in the offseason since he will be a restricted free agent.
In terms of the total value, the Indiana Pacers do get a handful of value from this trade with the Los Angeles Clippers and Sacramento Kings. All three guys they would get can be key contributors either now or in time and they would be getting a 2022 2nd Round Pick that they could look to leverage in another trade involving a guy like Jeremy Lamb or someone else.
