The Lasting Impact & Grade Of This Trade For The Pacers
It has been well-known since before the new year that the Indiana Pacers were going to be looking to switch things up roster-wise, but the biggest thing for them is that they did not want to “rebuild” and instead “re-tool” the current assets on their roster.
Pacers owner Herb Simon made his intentions very clear in December that the organization was “not in a panic mode to make changes,” and that the Pacers are “not a franchise that’s going to dump (games) to get a better (draft) pick.”
The 19-36 Pacers currently sit seven games back from the 10-seeded Atlanta Hawks now in the Eastern Conference, making their playoff chances slim-to-none at this point.
However, Indiana knows that they are not a playoff team right now and given all of the injuries on their roster, building for future years presented the best path to success.
LATEST NBA NEWS & TRADE RUMORS: Kings, Pacers Finalize Trade Involving Domantas Sabonis, Tyrese Haliburton
Trading Caris LeVert to the Cavaliers on Sunday brought the Pacers a 2022 first-round pick, as well as two future second-round, picks, and in this trade on Tuesday with the Sacramento Kings, the Pacers acquired the “re-tool” players that are needed for them to remain competitive moving forward.
I guess it is fair to say that the Pacers are still going through some kind of a “rebuild”, but it is not hard to imagine that this team could immediately turn things around heading into next season.
Malcolm Brogdon is under contract long-term and has played at an All-Star-like level for the last few seasons, Myles Turner could very well still be a part of this team at the center position and they now have a ton of young, high-level talents to begin building with.
Rookie Chris Duarte has played really well on the perimeter this season, likely earning him All-Rookie honors when the season is over, and now they have an excellent No. 2 guard next to Brogdon with Tyrese Haliburton.
LATEST NBA NEWS & TRADE RUMORS: Kings, Pacers Finalize Trade Involving Domantas Sabonis, Tyrese Haliburton
Buddy Hield addresses the Pacers’ biggest need for perimeter shooting on the wing and the Pacers are only committed to about $94M in total payroll for the 2022-23 season with the contracts of T.J. Warren, Tristan Thompson and Ricky Rubio set to expire at the end of the season.
Who knows, maybe the Pacers are not done just yet and they will look to flip Myles Turner and/or Ricky Rubio for more future assets/draft picks, but the one thing that is very clear from this trade with the Kings is that the Indiana Pacers have set themselves up for long-term success.
Isaiah Jackson (20), Tyrese Haliburton (21), and Chris Duarte (24) make up a very strong foundation and young core in Indiana right now, giving the Indiana Pacers everything they need to build themselves into a competitive playoff-caliber team once again in the Eastern Conference.
GRADE: B+
