Indiana Pacers trade deadline primer

Young Players and Draft Assets

The Indiana Pacers have all of their first-round picks going forward and have a decent number of young players at the end of the roster. That means the team could make a smaller move if they wanted to.

I already talked about TJ Leaf, and Aaron Holiday isn’t getting traded unless it is for a star, so let’s focus on the end of the roster guys – Ike Anigbogu and Alize Johnson – as well as the Pacers draft assets.

Let’s start with Ike Anigbogu. He has no value and is on a minimum contract. Unless an extra player is needed to make a trade legal, he won’t be moved because he just has zero value. He’s gotten 36 minutes of playing time in two NBA seasons so far. He has too long of a way to go and not enough time to do it.

Alize Johnson has some intrigue as a recently drafted second round guy who is showing a ton of promise in the G League. But nobody would offer a first rounder for him, and you might as well keep him over a second rounder, so Alize likely wouldn’t get moved unless it was like an Ike situation – there needs to be another player or a tiny bit more money in a trade to make it work.

But the draft picks – that is where you could get something done. I wouldn’t trade any first round picks at this point in time unless the Pacers were getting a huge upgrade, but trading a second round pick or two away for some depth at forward sounds juicy to me.

Something like this:

If the Mavericks move into sell mode, perhaps the Pacers could get Dorian Finney-Smith for just a second round pick. That would add forward depth at little cost.

There are a million moves like this that the Indiana Pacers could make. I’m sure they will pursue these alleyways.

The first-round picks all have a decent amount of value, but again, unless you are getting a good young player or a big upgrade to the starting lineup (a-la acquiring Thaddeus Young) I wouldn’t move any firsts, and I doubt the team does either.

That leaves the two-way contract players and cash. Two-way contract players have no trade value, plain and simple. Nobody is giving up anything of value for Edmond Sumner or Davon Reed. They only two-way player to be traded on his two-way deal was Jonathan Motley, and he got swapped for…

Cash. And the Pacers aren’t giving up either of those dudes for cash. The Pacers could trade cash for something, but cash for player trades never happen mid-season, so cash would only be used in a bigger move.

So, after a long journey, we’ve covered everything!

More depth and a possible upgrade over Tyreke seem like the most obvious things the Indiana Pacers could do at the deadline. But this team is really good and has copious comradery, last season the players requested the front office not break that up. Maybe Kevin Pritchard and co. will hear those pleas again, but be confident that the front office will make a move if they believe it is beneficial to the roster. Buckle up, everyone. It’s trade season.