Kevin Pritchard is the executive of the year no matter who wins the award

The NBA Award Show isn’t until June, but Kevin Pritchard deserves the award today. The Indiana Pacers beat all but the most die-hard fans loftiest dreams.

We won’t know until June 25 who won the NBA Executive of the Year Award, but I can tell you now that Kevin Pritchard deserves it. He might be the only one who thought the Indiana Pacers were going to be a better team this season than they were a year ago.

With the Pacers making the playoffs sooner than they did a season ago, and likely with a higher seed, it’s hard to argue against Pritchard winning the award.

And once you add the context of how this season’s team was put together, it’s all but an open and shut case.

Everyone was right to criticize the Oladipo-Sabonis trade. On paper, trading a multi-time All-Star (Paul George) for a zero-time All-Star in Victor Oladipo and a young, but raw, Domantas Sabonis didn’t make sense on paper, especially without Indiana getting any picks in the trade.

While some critics overlooked the reality of the situation, the criticisms at the time all made sense: there were better offers out there, a year with even an aggravated Paul George might be better, Indiana could have waited for more.

But now, rightfully so, it’s time for them to eat some crow. While everyone at the time said Sam Presti might have won himself the Executive of the Year, it’s clear now that Pritchard snatched it from him.

Did Pritchard expect these moves to work out this well? Doubtful, but on some level, he saw something Oladipo and Sabonis. If this was only a 5% chance in his mind, he still expected the duo for former Thunder player to give something to Indiana. His job depended on that.

Not that Presti made a bad deal, far from it, but where Presti took advantage of a team in a bad situation, Pritchard was in that bad situation and turned it into a winning trade. And if Paul George leaves the Oklahoma City Thunder after this season, then the Indiana Pacers definitely won that trade.

Did Pritchard expect these moves to work out this well? Doubtful, but on some level, he saw something Oladipo and Sabonis. If this was only a 5% chance in his mind, he still expected the duo for former Thunder player to give something to Indiana. His job depended on that.

Many times, the Executive of the Year award ends up going to an executive who is running a winning team. Luck can play a big part as a big name free agent wants to join a contender or they are simply running one of the NBA’s more successful teams. Rarely is the GM truly in a bad place when they make the moves that win them the award. Often it’s a mix of competence over time and being in the right place at the right time.

Pritchard was put in a bad place as George made it clear what his long-term plans were, even before last season ended. Once Paul George’s camp tried forcing the Pacers and the Los Angeles Lakers hands by reiterating George’s long-term plan of playing for the Lakers, Indiana lost almost all their leverage in a trade.

The reasons for doing that still don’t make sense as it only frustrated the Pacers and made the Lakers more patient in their wait for George. According to a source with knowledge of the situation, his representation thought it was their only play, but with Pritchard’s lack of interest in the Lakers’ assets, it ended up having the opposite effect.

Despite the situation the Pacers were in, Pritchard made his move later in the summer for Oladipo and Sabonis and got buried for it. Turning what looked like a bad trade into a great one is clearly the biggest piece of evidence that Pritchard has earned Executive of the Year, but it overshadows the smaller moves that made this season a success.

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Moving C.J. Miles for Cory Joseph in a de-facto sign and trade bolstered Indiana’s bench and gave them a backcourt defender when needed. Bojan Bogdanovic went from NBA journeyman to a reliable starter with the Pacers. Darren Collison returned to the Pacers and fits in perfectly as Indiana’s point guard as DC currently sports the NBA’s highest assist-to-turnover percentage.

Even the mid-season signing of Trevor Booker is paying off after just 10 games.

The only thing you might knock Pritchard for is drafting T.J. Leaf, but it’s much too early to give a verdict on that move just yet. If Leaf (or Ike Anigbogu/Edmond Sumner) contribute to the Pacers one day, that’s another win for Pritchard.

Turning a locker room with little to no chemistry into one that is completely in tune with each other is an achievement in itself.

Another aspect of Pritchard’s brilliance is the structure of all these contracts. Indiana can all but clear their books after next season. While the Pacers will want to lock up Myles Turner and keep Domantas Sabonis around after next season, Oladipo and Anigbogu are the only players with contracts going into that season as of now. That gives Indiana flexibility as they build around their younger players.

And that’s the other reason why he should win. The didn’t just make the Pacers a better team now, he also made them a better one as future seasons approach.

Next: A closer look at Domantas Sabonis' recent struggles

The story of an executive isn’t written in one season. It’s often the culmination of many moves. While an award this season won’t validate any of Pritchard’s moves, he put the Pacers in position to succeed both now and in the future.