How the Pacers could approach the trade deadline without Victor Oladipo

The Pacers act as sellers

The logic here is theoretically sound. Check the good old salary cap ledger and the Pacers have a ton of contracts that expire at the end of the season. Getting some value for those guys before they leave in the summer makes sense. I’m not for it, for reasons laid out here and here, but the logic is technically sound.

Especially in the new timeline without Victor Oladipo. Now, the Indiana Pacers are substantially less likely to makes noise in the postseason. Getting rid of guys makes more sense looking through the new scope since dumping guys likely doesn’t change your season’s outlook. The logic stays coherent.

The challenge with that logic though is that usually trading away expiring contracts means you bring future money. The team taking back the expiring contracts is often trying to relieve themselves of long-term money.

But not always. Trades do still happen for basketball reasons, and there are some that could benefit the Pacers.

An important part of being sellers is having a buyer. With second place in the Western Conference being wide open and the East being somewhat open, there are multiple buyers, though not many are willing to give up a ton of assets.

The 76ers are a buyer. They have extra first-round picks, the Bulls second-round pick, and Markelle Fultz. I’m sure getting Fultz would be sexy, but I’m not sure what his value is.

That isn’t enough. Philly can’t sell that to their fans and give up on Fultz for just Darren Collison. But maybe this could work.

Every player besides Collison is in there to make the salaries, and rosters, legal. The angle is that the Pacers get a top-35 pick in lieu of Collison (you could do Cory Joseph as well). It’s an easy move to sell to your fans on both sides. It makes sense.

DC is one of many expiring contracts the Pacers could use. I’m sure a Western Conference contender would like a shooter like Bojan Bogdanovic. How are you doing, Oklahoma City?

The Thunder could start with Alex Abrines and Terrence Ferguson. It’s hard for me to imagine the Thunder increasing their tax bill AND dumping Ferguson, but if their front office believes Bojan could get them to the Western Conference finals, perhaps they go for it. Who knows if the Pacers do. We will loop back on Bojan in one paragraph.

The Sacramento Kings could take most of the Pacers expiring deals (individually) into their cap space, but they wouldn’t give up more than a 2nd round pick to do so. I don’t think the Kings would even trade for anyone but Bojan, and given that the Pacers are allegedly looking to re-sign Bogdanovic, it is hard to imagine them giving him up for a 2nd. There’s no match there, or likely anywhere with him.

The Lakers are buyers, but they are looking for something else and much bigger. Most other buyers don’t have expiring contracts to give back to Indy. If you’re willing to take back Brandon Knight’s terrible contract from Houston, you could get a first round pick for any of the expiring deals on the team. But most really good contenders don’t have expiring contracts they are willing to part with. Most selling moves are tough to find since the Pacers don’t really want to acquire money that is on the books next season.

Does this count as selling? This is a silly idea I have that kinda counts as both selling and buying.

The Pacers are selling DC and TJ Leaf here. They are also kinda buying with Taurean Prince. I’m probably alone here, but I would be willing to part with a first to get him.

The Hawks want a young player and a pick for Prince. There is that return. Philly gets the depth they need to be ready for the playoffs. I love this deal. Muscala would kinda help the Pacers this year, too. Call it in.

Here’s a sneaky one. The Knicks may be trying to clear the decks next year. I wonder if an expiring contract and a future pick could steal away Frank Ntilikina. I doubt it, the Knicks need cheap players. But it may be worth the call just to sniff out if there’s a framework that makes sense.

Tyreke Evans basically has neutral value, he would have to be a part of a bigger move. Thad Young is the captain of the team – I am extremely doubtful he gets moved. Kyle O’Quinn has a contract more suited to be used in “buying” moves. The “selling” strategy basically only entails DC and CoJo for Indiana.

There’s the idea of what the “selling” path looks like – trading your point guards for either worse younger players or for picks. This path isn’t a bad choice without Oladipo. Acquiring assets is always a good idea on paper, even though it could theoretically create animosity within the organization. But back to the whiteboard. Let’s look at another scenario, one in which the Indiana Pacers are buyers are the deadline.