How the Pacers could approach the trade deadline without Victor Oladipo

The Pacers could stand pat

Some of you get angry at this strategy. I get that.

It seems like giving up. Not trying to improve the team at all seems like a bad strategy. But it’s not. It’s really not.

There is value in treating people right. The team is full of veterans that signed up to play in Indiana and win there. I’ve written this before, but those veterans deserve a chance to go for it. Bad consequences can come from treating players poorly, like this for example:

Standing pat doesn’t mean literally doing nothing. You can still trade picks or the young guys out of the rotation for minimal upgrades. You just can’t trade away your contributing veterans in a “stand-pat” scenario.

The plan for the Indiana Pacers has always been to improve the Victor Oladipo era squad in the upcoming summer. I don’t really see a reason to alter that plan. I get the fan sentiment of wanting to win right now, but going all in this year would cripple the long-term plan to maximize the roster around Oladipo. If you can’t accept that, that is fine. I can’t tell you how to fell. I think patience is a virtue, though.

My favorite moves in all of this? Getting Fultz would be cool but it seems improbable.

The 3 acquisitions from this post I am the most interested in are Taurean Prince, Anthony Tolliver, and Rodney McGruder. I love the potential of Prince and I love the idea of acquiring a young wing. Tolliver would help a ton on and off the floor and wouldn’t cost much of anything. McGruder would be helpful short AND long term. I like the chances of all of those guys adding more value than it would take to get them, and I like their fits in the post-Vic injury era.

Who knows what will happen at the trade deadline. There are a lot of options available for the Indiana Pacers. Any of multiple paths make sense, but if any moves similar to the ones described here occur, we will know which direction the Indiana Pacers are looking.