Will there be an Indiana Pacers trade before the deadline? That remains to be seen, but the team should at least look at these players who are rumored to be on the block.
With a little more than two weeks remaining until the NBA’s trade deadline, the Indiana Pacers find themselves in kind of a weird spot. Despite their 18-32 record, the team is closer to the playoffs than the bottom of the Eastern Conference: 3.5 games away from the 8th seed but 7.5 games up on the lowly Knicks and 76ers.
The All-Star break is also coming, however.
And considering the rash of injuries that have plagued this team during the first half of the season — not to mention Larry Bird’s recent comments about maybe wanting Paul George to play this season — the possibility remains that the Pacers could use the break to get healthy and get after it during the second half of the season.
Bird himself vocalized the team’s current dilemma with his comments Tuesday.
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Not only did he speak on George’s potential return, but he talked about the team being in “win-now” mode, only to later acknowledge the importance of adding youth and depth to a squad that has two of its oldest, most important, and most expensive players holding player options this offseason in David West and Roy Hibbert. Bird also touched on the pair of big men during his meeting, fully aware of the fluidity of the team’s situation.
That said, it doesn’t make the answers any easier. A competitor like Bird, along with the appeal of playoff revenue to ownership, means a small-market franchise like Indiana will almost always favor a playoff run over a tank job, especially when this squad’s plans were basically derailed only by injury in the eyes of the management.
But with the imminence of the deadline and the appeal of adding a top-five draft choice to what, as Bird mentioned, is already an established core, many fans would like to see the team shift into seller mode at the deadline. That’s obviously tempting for good reason — this team’s future would be much brighter with a stud rookie in the fold than without, and the team does have a few assets to potentially unload: Lavoy Allen, Ian Mahinmi, C.J. Watson, Chris Copeland.
There are other, more important pieces who could be moved as well, but it would take an very fair offer to pry any players whom the Pacers consider part of their core. Considering the abundance of high-profile trades already this season, it seems unlikely there might be another involving the likes of a West, Hibbert or Hill.
Still, there are players the Pacers are certainly targeting, and Bird indicated that the team has been active on the phones during recent weeks. If the deal is right, Larry Legend has shown that he will pull the trigger.
Here are a few players who could be on the block that might make good Indiana Pacers trade bait.
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