Does this trade make sense for the Indiana Pacers?
If they are to avoid a rebuild entirely and continue finding ways to build with Brogdon and Sabonis as their core, then the Indiana Pacers need to try and find a way to form a “Big 3” in the Eastern Conference.
The Nets, Bucks, Heat, Bulls, and others have paired All-Star talents together to form some of the best trios in the league, which is why Indiana will have to do so in order to be a playoff threat in the East.
Bringing in CJ McCollum at the expense of Myles Turner and Caris LeVert does leave the Indiana Pacers a little thin in terms of depth, especially given their injury situation, but a trio of Brogdon, Sabonis, and McCollum is definitely scary to think about from an offensive perspective.
Combining their stats from this season, this trio would average a total of 58.6 points per game and the best part about this deal for Indiana is the fact that McCollum is under contract long-term.
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Being under contract through the 2023-24 season, the Pacers would not have to worry about losing CJ McCollum due to him opting out of his contract and they could finally begin to build what they believe would be a contending team around their three stars.
Having Chris Duarte, Justin Holiday, T.J. McConnell, and possibly T.J. Warren for the future, the Pacers would suddenly have a balanced offensive attack, and fixing things in their frontcourt should not be too difficult to figure out since they also have Goga Bitadze and rookie Isaiah Jackson.
Shams Charania of The Athletic reported earlier this month that the Pacers are heading towards a rebuild and are interested in fielding calls pertaining to their best players, but they would no longer have to consider a rebuild should they go out and acquire another big name player like McCollum.
Caris LeVert’s future in Indiana is definitely in question given that he is not much of a scorer on the perimeter and Myles Turner’s upside is limited as well, so trading both of them for an impactful scorer next to Malcolm Brogdon makes the most sense for this organization to avoid having to rebuild.
