Indiana Pacers Receive: G John Wall, 2023 First-Round Pick (MIL), 2024 First-Round Pick (BKN)
Toronto Raptors Receive: C Myles Turner, G Buddy Hield
Houston Rockets Receive: F Pascal Siakam
If it’s defense the Toronto Raptors are after, Myles Turner should be a much more appealing proposition than Christian Wood.
With this deal, they achieve the same floor balance by swapping Siakam for a starting center and a quality rotation guard. Only now, they’ll enjoy Turner’s elite rim protection in the process. They could easily field a top 5 defense in 2022-23 after making this deal.
Meanwhile, they’re compromising on draft capital to bring in better immediate help. Instead, those picks fall to Indiana. The Pacers also get Wall’s expiring contract in the deal. They’ll entertain buying him out, or they could continue his career as a $47 million assistant coach by sitting him.
At the same time, this Pacers team might just play him. They’re not known for tearing teams down, so they’ll probably use any rotation caliber players on their roster. Either way, the draft capital is the main appeal for them here.
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This entire situation falls comfortably on the side of being unlikely. The Rockets are probably better off seeing what they have in their young nucleus before they go about adding star players to the fold.
Still, they’re as prime a candidate to shock the NBA world as any other organization in today’s fast-moving league.
