Kevin Pritchard’s legacy with the Pacers hangs heavily on this summer

Kevin Pritchard’s legacy as a member of the Pacers front office, and likely his NBA one, hangs heavily on the work he puts in this summer.

The work of those in the Indiana Pacers’ front office never ends, but with the team eliminated and the NBA draft approaching, Kevin Pritchard’s job kicks into high-gear.

Outside of already having the best players, Pritchard is in a position most general managers or presidents of basketball operations envy: One with possibility. With the potential of nearly $43 million in cap room, there’s flexibility and numerous ways Pritchard and the Pacers can go about their offseason.

As the former friend of 8 Points, 9 Seconds, Tony East, now know as The Traitor, points out in his first post over at Forbes, the Pacers have plenty of options on the table this summer.

"The Pacers President of Basketball Operation is prepared to use all of his resources to make that happen. I mean all of them. He was asked if anyone, excluding Victor Oladipo, was untouchable in trade talks this summer and hesitated just long enough for all of us to know the true answer to the question.That doesn’t mean there will be trades. That just means every option will be explored, including trading the 18th pick in the first round of the NBA draft. “We’re going to be opened-minded [with the draft pick],” he said after joking about the number of prospects he likes, “I would not be surprised if [18] isn’t the pick we pick. We [could] either move down, move up…”Team building isn’t rocket science. But it is hard and extremely calculated. You have to find the right players to fit your organization’s culture and structure as well as the right fit on the court."

Now only does the team’s future hang in the balance, but Pritchard’s legacy as a member of the Pacers front office —  and maybe even his one in the NBA — is likely to be determined this summer.

Flexibility equals a lack of excuses

With that possibly $43 million hanging around, there’s pressure on Pritchard to make something, anything happen. He can’t be held responsible for whether a free agent ultimately decides to join the Pacers, but it seems with that sort of cash, there should be some results in one way or another.

If the Pacers do get a Kemba Walker level of a free agent or two quality ones, then the idea of paying the luxury tax is on the table. It’s understandable ignorance — not everyone can be Larry Coon — toward how it works, but typically it’s something you’re only concerned about if you’re signing big name free agents in addition to keeping some of your own. But with the mix of cap room and a few guys you might want to keep around from last season, it should be on the table.

They may not need it with all the cap space they have, but it’s more likely to come up in discussion this summer. And it isn’t just free agency. With the cap space have, they don’t have to match salaries when trading. That means they can take on a player with a large salary in a trade without sending out a considerable amount of talent just in an effort to make a legal trade.

Now, Pritchard shouldn’t just spend money because he can, but it’s been a long time since the Pacers had this much cap space and a solid core of players to work with at the same time. That $43 million may only be freed up if they let some of their current veterans go, but as Pritchard said, there’s flexibility.

The Pacers aren’t entangled in bad contracts nor are these absent of younger players who can produce, Aaron Holiday included.

They have a solid defender in Myles Turner and offensive weapon in Domantas Sabonis, though they may end up having deciding between the two. Even if one of them becomes more asset than a player, that’s still another bit of flexibility Pritchard has.

If Victor Oladipo was younger, one could understand if the Pacers were more patient this summer, but at the age of 27, Indiana can’t wait forever to build around him.

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And that’s why so much of Pritchard’s legacy hangs on this summer. Ultimately his plan started to form two season’s ago when he became the president of basketball operations. Though Oladipo’s injury throws a wrench into those plans, everything he’s planned for was for this.

Indiana didn’t sign Bojan Bogdanovic and Darren Collison to 1+1 deals just for fun, nor did they trade for Cory Joseph, whose deal is up this summer as well, without a plan. Same goes for the signings of Tyreke Evans and Wesley Matthews. They are contributors, but there was a reason Pritchard and the front office set things up for the Pacers to clear the deck this summer or last.

Pritchard was smart for many reasons not to hit reset last summer as this team earned the privilege of showing what they were capable of. But with that given, and now their strength and weakness as a group laid out, it’s time for Pritchard to push his chips in.

Oladipo is in the middle of his peak while Sabonis and Turner are entering theirs. Outside of a complete whiff on free agents and a lack of meaningful trade possibilities, there’s no reason for this not to be the biggest inflection point of Pritchard’s tenure with the Pacers.

So far outside of a few moves, Pritchard’s been successful in finding talent that can overachieve. That doesn’t change now but with the lack of limitations and the moment for Indiana, it’s time to go all-in.

Godspeed, Kevin Pritchard.