Are The Pacers Trying To Trade Solomon Hill?

According to ESPN’s Marc Stein, the Indiana Pacers have put Solomon Hill on the trading block.

The Indiana Pacers are looking to move the team’s best bench celebration artist according to ESPN’s Marc, a season after he led the team in minutes played thanks to all the injuries last season.

"The Pacers, amid their stunning 12-5 start, have made swingman Solomon Hill available via trade, according to league sources. A first-round draftee as recently as 2013, Hill is out there after falling out of favor in Indiana despite playing in all 82 games last season and averaging 29.0 minutes in 2014-15 for the old, plodding Pacers."

The Indy Star’s Candace Buckner confirmed the report, and expanded on it saying the New Orleans Pelicans were a possible trade partner.

The Pacers had declined to extend his contract this offseason, so it looked this season was expected to be his last in Indiana, but now his time with the team could be ending sooner than expected. He’s had a few appearances and looked fine in the 44 minutes he’s played this season, but he’s been an afterthought in the rotation so far.

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Solomon Hill’s value comes on the defensive end as he was a slightly above average defender for the Pacers last season but only averaged 8.9 points a game on the offensive side of the ball. His offensive contributions were bad enough to rank him 299th in ESPN’s Real Plus-Minus statistic last season.

Solomon Hill has to improve his offense if he wants to stick somewhere as a 39.8% field goal percentage doesn’t ensure you a spot in the NBA. While its hard to get a good handle of last year’s Indiana Pacers team, they played better with him off the court. That may be due to the fact the injury-ridden Pacers were outmatched most of the season, especially the starters, but it doesn’t help Solo’s case either.

We’ll have to wait to see who is interested and for how much, but for now Solomon Hill will be living in limbo until his fate is decided.

This story was updated at 7:25 p.m. to clarify that New Orleans was among the teams Indiana was speaking with.