NBA rumors centered on Rudy Gobert could impact the Indiana Pacers
Recent NBA rumors could have a major impact on the future plans of the Indiana Pacers and how they build their team moving forward.
According to a bombshell report from Shams Charania, Sam Amick, and Tony Jones of The Athletic, Donovan Mitchell has an extremely negative view of his relationship with co-star Rudy Gobert
(subscription required). So negative, in fact, that it’s being reported as unsalvagable.
Gobert found himself as the undesirable main character of not just the NBA, but the world on the night the NBA decided to suspend its season.
Following a press conference about a week earlier in which Gobert jokingly touched each and every reporter’s recording device placed in front of him as they sat at least six feet away from him (early precautions to prevent the spread of coronavirus) Gobert himself tested positive for coronavirus.
That positive test result to the Jazz/Thunder matchup getting postponed, and shortly following that night the entire season was suspended. Other pro sports leagues would follow the NBA’s lead in the coming days under the recommendation of public health officials.
Days following, Mitchell, too, tested positive, and it was reported that Gobert was rather loose in the locker room, touching other player’s things and overtly not taking the dangers of the virus serious.
Mitchell’s relationship with Gobert might have been festering in a bad place before this, but none of these recent developments centered on coronavirus and Gobert’s irresponsibility help.
As a result of the irreparability of their relationship, there’s a good chance the Jazz will decide to try to trade either Mitchell or Gobert, but all signs point to Gobert at this time.
The Pacers are an extremely unlikely destination for Gobert. The only trade package that makes sense is a Myles Turner-for-Gobert swap, something that doesn’t figure to move the needle very far for either team. For the Pacers, that would only continue to press on the fit issues in the frontcourt.
It does have impacts on Indiana, though.
Due to the extremely high level of play from Domantas Sabonis this entire season, Turner has been a frequent mention in trade rumors and speculation. Though the Pacers were unable to move him at the trade deadline, there’s reason to believe that he’ll be frequently brought up throughout the summer.
With the moratorium on transactions happening, The NBA Draft night looks to be the most likely upcoming day for Turner to be traded, whenever that ends up happening.
Turner is a solid player with Defensive Player of the Year potential. He is a legitimate rim protector and has an ever-growing offensive game that can score at the rim and (more and more as the years go on) beyond the arc as well.
His willingness to take shots beyond the arc has allowed Sabonis the space to work on the inside, but he doesn’t hit outside shots at a very promising rate.
At just 33.6 percent, he’s a far cry from some of the most modern of big men like Karl-Anthony Towns (41.2 percent). I would argue that the defense you get from Turner far makes up for that, but with many teams opting to go small, the traditional big man is not the hottest of commodities.
We saw that in the clearest of ways at the trade deadline this season when Andre Drummond was traded to the Cavaliers for John Henson, Brandon Knight, and a second-round draft pick.
The market has been set at a very low level for traditional big men.
One of two things will happen if the Jazz move Gobert this summer.
One — The market will be set at a higher level for elite rim-protecting centers.
Or two — The need for a rim-protecting center will diminish even further.
Though anything can happen, especially coming off of one of the strangest NBA seasons of all-time, I can’t see a Gobert trade doubling or tripling the entire market for that of a rim-protecting center in today’s NBA.
Teams will take this summer as an opportunity to reset and recalibrate, and many will pivot toward the modern trends of pace and space more than they will trending toward big man pick-and-roll, rebounding, and rim-protecting defense.
Gobert might be the exception. A two-time Defensive Player of the Year and first-time All-Star this season, there’s a world in which a bidding war goes on for Gobert. At best, Indiana comes in with one of those teams that misses out on Gobert and secures a deal centered on Turner.
How do Rudy Gobert trade rumors impact the Indiana Pacers and Myles Turner?
There’s an argument to be made that the Pacers will be advantaged from a premium rim-protecting big man potentially being on the trading block this summer. It allows the Pacers to see which teams might be interested in a player of Turner’s general archetype.
Likely, though, the Pacers would get an extremely diminished return on Gobert compared to what the Jazz will get for Gobert. It seems most likely that Gobert now potentially being on the market will increase the supply and lower the demand for a player like Turner, drastically pushing the return down.