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Nick Young, Ryan Kelly, Ray Felton: Who Will the Pacers Get in the Roy Hibbert Trade?

ByBen Gibson|
Dec 12, 2014; San Antonio, TX, USA; Los Angeles Lakers small forward Nick Young (0) reacts after a shot against the San Antonio Spurs during the first half at AT&T Center. Mandatory Credit: Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 12, 2014; San Antonio, TX, USA; Los Angeles Lakers small forward Nick Young (0) reacts after a shot against the San Antonio Spurs during the first half at AT&T Center. Mandatory Credit: Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports

The Roy Hibbert trade to the Los Angeles Lakers has been agreed to, but that doesn’t make it official nor are the details are settled yet.

With none of the free agent deals becoming official until July 10th the Indiana Pacers, Los Angeles Lakes, and maybe even the Dallas Mavericks are looking to get as much out of a deal as they can get.

Things get a little messy and complicated when you throw Jeremy Lin into the mix.

It is being reported that the Mavericks want to add Lin and the Lakers want to create more salary cap room (to pay Brandon Bass) but it isn’t as simple as the two teams swapping assets.

Dallas spent a good deal of money on Wesley Matthews and DeAndre Jordan, which leaves them little room to add Lin. The Mavericks and Pacers had been in discussions of doing a sign and trade of Monta Ellis for Hibbert, but that deal went away with Dallas signing DeAndre, which then led to Indiana shipping Hibbert to the Lakers.

But if the Mavericks, Pacers, and Lakers can find the right assets to move then the three teams might interested in doing a 3-way trade to help each other and, more importantly, themselves.

Eric Pincus of the Los Angeles Times and Basketball Insiders discussed some of the possibilities on his Twitter account yesterday.

With both Roy Hibbert’s and David West’s contracts no longer on the books the Indiana Pacers have roughly $10 million left in cap space for this season. Right now Indiana only has 10 players signed and will need to add at least three more. Two of these will likely be Shayne Whittington and second-round pick Joe Young at minimum salaries to help round out the roster.

With that extra space available Indiana can try to pick up another player from either the Lakers or Mavericks. Pincus threw out the idea that Raymond Felton or Nick Young could be candidates, as the Lakers are publicly shopping Young and nobody wants Felton.

Given that the Pacers have already signed Monta and Rodney Stuckey, adding a player like Young wouldn’t make much sense — especially since he’ll make $5 million in each of the next three seasons. But the Lakers do need to unload some salary, so accepting Young (or the Mavs’ Felton and his $4 million in the three-way idea) might be the price Indiana has to pay for dumping Hibbert.

Alternatively — and this seems like the most probable outcome — the Pacers could take on Ryan Kelly and his $1.7 million salary for next year. (Robert Sacre, on a sub-$1 million deal, is the other expendable player the Lakers would be fine dealing away.)

To say the situation is confusing is an understatement, but it is worth keeping an eye on as Indiana could add another player from all the chaos.

Some things are certain: Hibbert is leaving, and Ellis is on his way. But everything else for the Indiana Pacers is still up in the air.

Next: Indiana Pacers Salary Cap Update

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