The Butterfly Effect: How the Indiana Pacers Roster Came Together
By Ben Gibson
George Hill
Remember Erazem Lorbek? No? Me either. But he was a Slovenian player the Pacers drafted in 2005 out of Michigan State. He never played in the NBA yet remained an asset for the Indiana Pacers. Davis Bertans was a Latvian player drafted by Indiana taken in the second round. But Kawhi Leonard was the most important piece and he was drafted in the first round. All three players were packaged together and traded to the San Antonio Spurs for George Hill.
It isn’t a very old transaction tree, but thanks to the power of hindsight many fans ask what might the Pacers be like if they had kept Leonard.
That’s a big what if because there is no guarantee that he develops into the same player as he might have in Indiana as he would have been fighting for minutes with Paul George. Maybe neither player ends up being as good as they are now.
Either way, the only one where a trade asset did develop into more than the Pacers imagined when they made the trade.
Next: Lavoy Allen