Why The Indiana Pacers Do The Deal
At face value, it’s easy to explain why the Indiana Pacers would make this trade. They’re in it for Miami’s 2027 first-round pick.
All the same, it only requires novice-level mental gymnastics to justify this trade in the short term for the Pacers. Duncan Robinson is a lethal off-ball threat. For that matter, so is Max Strus. This trade improves the team’s floor spacing, even if it is a pure talent downgrade.
That could lead to meaningful development for Tyrese Haliburton. As it stands, he’s the most important player on this Pacers squad. Having better off-ball targets will aid his development as a playmaker.
Inversely, Malcolm Brogdon takes the ball out of his hands. The two may be similar to the point of redundancy. If the Pacers think so, this deal lands them two sharpshooters at the expense of a player they’ve outgrown anyway.
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Maybe that’s a stretch. Robinson is such a poor defender that he’s been virtually played off the floor for much of the 2021-22 postseason. Strus has been a pleasant surprise in 2021-22, but he’s not on Brogdon’s level.
Even if this trade doesn’t improve the Pacers next season, flipping Brogdon for a future first-round pick is smart team management.
