Happy birthday Kevin Pritchard: his five best moves with the Pacers

Indiana Pacers President of Basketball Operations Kevin Pritchard turns 52 on Thursday. While we hope he gets all the gifts he wants on the cherished day, here are the best gifts he’s given the Pacers since taking over as President.

Ah, Kevin Pritchard. You know him, you love him, and after this Indiana Pacers offseason, you should recognize him as one of the best executives in the NBA. His front office wizardry has guided Indiana into a promising new era since the departure of Paul George, and he’s done it all without the allure of a coastal destination, where nearly every top free agent signed this summer.

Since it’s his birthday, I won’t skimp on his curriculum vitae — he has an NCAA championship, a six-year NBA career and a pretty darn good tenure as GM of the Portland Trailblazers under his belt.

The latter part of that list includes the birth of the Pritch Slap, which stemmed from his 2006 draft where he finessed LaMarcus Aldridge and Brandon Roy in one night. He picked Greg Oden at No. 1 a year later and secured what should’ve been a dynasty in Portland. Of course, a string of unprecedented injuries said otherwise, so his time in the Pacific Northwest ended in 2010.

Which couldn’t have been better news for his home state of Indiana.

He joined the Pacers organization in 2011 as the Director of Player Personnel, was promoted to GM a year later and finally became the bossman in 2017, when Larry Bird’s retirement led way to him taking over as President of Basketball Operations.

Of course, the years have been a bit cruel:

All jokes aside, Pritchard is now a healthy 52 and should lead the Pacers to prosperity for years to come. Let’s hope he gets all of the birthday wishes he asks for, but after the pickups he was able to secure for Indiana in the past month, he’s probably already due for a pretty happy day.

Rather, let’s put things in reverse and talk about the best gifts that he’s given the Pacers since taking the reigns two years ago. There are plenty to count, but to make things nice and neat, here are Kevin Pritchard’s five best moves as President of Basketball Operations for the Indiana Pacers.

Trading for TJ Warren and the No. 32 pick on draft day

When Adrian Wojnarowski first tweeted that the Indiana had traded for Phoenix Suns forward TJ Warren, the immediate reaction in the collective minds of Pacers Twitter was “okay, cool — for what?”. Surely, grabbing a player who averaged 18.0 points a game last year on .486/.428/.815 shooting splits must cost something, whether it be draft capital or an outgoing player.

Cash considerations. Full stop. That’s all it took. But wait, there’s more: the Suns threw in the No. 32 pick in the 2019 draft for the favor of taking on the remaining 3 years and $35 million. Yup, Pritchard essentially brought in Warren and a high second-round draft pick for free.

Phoenix needed the space, of course, to chase stars like Ricky Rubio and Frank Kaminsky in free agency. Either way, Pritchard secured a solid young player and a draft pick for nada, marking his first Pritch Slap of the 2019 offseason.

What Warren will bring to the Pacers is yet to be seen, but he showed plenty of promise with the Suns and fits in well as a wing that can create his own bucket. His reasonable contract is the icing on the cake.

Pritchard later used that No. 32 pick to secure not one, not two, but three future second-round picks from the Miami Heat. All in all, a pretty good haul for a trade that required no real assets on Indiana’s end.

Extending Myles Turner’s contract

Whenever you lock up a player with Myles Turner’s elite rim protection skills and budding offensive talents, you’ve typically done a good job. When you can do it for under $20 million a year in today’s NBA, you’ve done a great job.

Last season, when hope was all but lost that Turner was going to sign an extension before entering the final year of his contract, Pritchard pulled through in a big way. Right before the season began, the news struck: 4 years, $72 million, which could go up to $80 million depending on incentives.

Turner hadn’t quite played like an $18 million player in 2017-18: he regressed in most major counting stats and just couldn’t find a solid rhythm due to injury, a song that sounds a lot like his rookie season. Pritchard bet on him, though, and if Turner’s 2018-19 is any indication, he made the right bet.

Turner’s major counting stats all ticked back up in last year’s campaign, but most importantly, he refined the two skills that he was drafted for in 2015: three-point shooting and blocking. Turner led the league in blocks per game with 2.7 and brought his three-point percentage up to 38.8 — both career highs.

He still needs more volume on the three-point end, but as long as he keeps improving offensively and remains a top defensive anchor in the league, the $18-$20 million a year will look like an absolute steal.

The extension officially kicks in this upcoming season, so time will truly tell how impressive of a deal Pritchard made with Myles. He almost certainly won’t be worse than what he’s being paid, barring injury. With a few more offensive tools in his toolbox, he could be the second or third star for a strong Eastern Conference contender, and at $18 million, you take that any day of the week.

Signing Bojan Bogdanovic to a 2-year, $21-million deal

In the midst of the off-season, when fans first knew that Paul George would no longer be an NBA Pacer, Pritchard had some serious work on his hands. Filling out the roster after trading George was no easy task, so he had to find value where he could.

Bogdanovic was always an elite shooter, but hadn’t done much of anything in his tenures with the Brooklyn Nets and Washington Wizards. He couldn’t defend most wings, either. Why give him $21-million over two seasons?

But then his Pacers career began. We got the Bogey Game. Bogdanovic was actually holding his own guarding LeBron James in the playoffs, and he was scoring lights out on the other end. He shot 40%+ from deep for the first time in his career, and then did it again the next season at an even more elite percentage (42.5).

He took over as a primary scorer when Oladipo went down with a knee injury, and finished last year at a career-high 18 points and 4.1 boards a game. He played so well that he became too expensive for the Pacers to retain, as his tenure earned him a 4-year, $73 million deal with the Utah Jazz this summer.

In an era that originally looked like darker days, Bogdanovic was one of the many bright spots that led to the light of the past two seasons. He earned a great contract, and he leaves behind plenty of happy memories for all Pacers fans. And at $10.5 million a year for those two wonderful seasons?

Pritchard did it again.

Securing Malcolm Brogdon in a sign-and-trade

The 2019 summer looked bleak for the Indiana Pacers. Oladipo is out until at least Christmas, and based on the rumor mill leading up to free agency, Indiana’s top viable option was Ricky Rubio. Not a recipe for success.

Then the most interesting three minutes in Pacers offseason history happened.

Shams announced that Rubio was off the market on a deal to the Phoenix Suns. Phew. Exactly one minute later, Woj let us all know that Bogdanovic was going to Utah. Crap. But then:

And the rest is history (well, pretty recent history, but still). In an offseason where the Pacers looked doomed to not secure any top free agents, as well as losing important guys like Bogdanovic and Thaddeus Young, Pritchard secured one of the best point guards in the NBA.

Last year, as one of the key pieces on a Milwaukee Bucks team that finished first in the Eastern Conference, Brogdon put up a solid 15.6/4.5/3.2 statline and became the ninth player in the history of the NBA to put up a 50/40/90 season.

I could go on, but I’d recommend reading Jordan Brandenburg’s resume on Brogdon, and Ethan Krieger’s piece on how Brogdon fits with the Pacers. He’s the second-highest paid Pacer in history (which isn’t saying too much considering the stellar contracts of Oladipo and Turner), and one of the best “free-agent” acquisitions the team has ever made.

It cost a bit more than his contract, as Pritchard sent over some picks to ensure that Brogdon wouldn’t test the restricted free-agent market, but that’s what the aforementioned No. 32 for three seconds was for, right? You have to take great players when you can, and when Pritchard got the opportunity, he took it,

And now the Pacers have perhaps the strongest two-way backcourt in the NBA.

Trading Paul George for Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis

What is there to be said that hasn’t been said already? When Larry Bird announced his retirement, Pritchard had big shoes to fill, and a big job to do. He entered the President position with a disgruntled star — a star who was set on going to Los Angeles when his contract ended the next season.

George’s trade value was sunk. No one wanted a rental. At best, it seemed like the Pacers were going to have to send him to Los Angeles for whatever they would take to get PG a year early. And then the trade heard round the world happened: Paul George was going to Oklahoma City in return for Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis.

And almost everyone, myself included, laughed at Pritchard. No draft picks? A player who had a horrible rookie season and a young guy who hasn’t made much of an impact in the NBA? Where’s my Brandon Ingram?

All apologies to the birthday boy. Oladipo has emerged as one of the NBA’s premiere guards, notching an all-NBA selection and Most Improved Player award in his first season with the team. Sabonis finished second in the Sixth Man award this year and got a few Most Improved Player votes himself. He’s primed to become half of a tall and skilled frontcourt duo with Turner.

And this Tweet will forever go down in infamy:

Two years and two OKC first-round exits later, Paul George finally did make his way to Los Angeles — with the Clippers. Funny how life works out, huh? Meanwhile, the Pacers still have both key pieces from their young core (Oladipo, at 27, is the oldest player on the roster!), and two years later, the trade couldn’t look better for Pritchard.

It was the move that made him The Man on the Pacers. It was the move that began the new era of Pacers basketball. Thank you, Kevin Pritchard. And have a very happy birthday.