What could the Indiana Pacers offer for Bradley Beal?

Trade Package

Let me say this: if a package around Simmons, Porter Jr., or Wiseman and the 2021 Minnesota is available, I’m not sure the Pacers can (or would be willing to) top that. Even teams like New Orleans or Oklahoma City could put together interesting trade packages with the overwhelming number of first-round picks and prospects they have acquired from trading away a superstar or two. But what the Pacers can offer is different than almost every other team: An All-Star at a position the Wizards need, along with a young player and draft capital.

First things first. Sabonis has improved at an incredible rate in his three years as a Pacer, and there aren’t many other teams that can put something better than a 24-year-old All-Star on the table, not to mention one that is on an extremely team-friendly contract for the next four years. To make the money work, the Wizards also get a good rotation player in Jeremy Lamb, a nice young piece in Aaron Holiday, and a couple of first round picks.

Second, while Myles Turner has been a revelation this year, I don’t think he can be the centerpiece for a player like Bradley Beal. He doesn’t have the offensive ceiling to carry a team and has been inconsistent throughout his career, so to me the Wizards would likely ask for another starter like T.J. Warren in addition to Turner, which the Pacers shouldn’t do.

Lastly, what I think is most important and perhaps most controversial…

In a trade for a player like Beal, I believe the Pacers should try to trade Sabonis, not Turner.

I believe Myles would be more important to a lineup with Brogdon/Beal/LeVert/Warren than Domas would be. We’ve seen the defensive impact Myles has and what the team looks like when he isn’t on the floor. Not only that, but Beal can replace more of what Domas does as the offensive hub than what Myles does as the defensive linchpin.

Now Beal obviously can’t replace everything Domas does on the court. A team that is already 29th in total rebounding for the year losing by far it’s best rebounder is sure to cause some issues. But acquiring Bradley Beal would give the Pacers four perimeter players that are capable of creating for themselves and others as well as playing on or off ball, which could provide some devastating lineup flexibility.

This is three rotation players for one, which eliminates a lot of the Pacers depth that has been so important the last couple years. But that’s the price to pay for an offensive superstar, and the Pacers could ask for other lower salary players from Washington such as Alex Len, Moritz Wagner, or Troy Brown to fill that out. They could also open a roster spot or two, choose not to add another player to the deal to take back less salary, and to fill out the rest of their roster elsewhere.

There would be some growing pains, and one of the bigger pains would be trading away someone the team relies on so heavily like Domas. There are also some teams that can outdo the Pacers offer, so I wouldn’t even say this is an especially realistic scenario. But adding a star level player like Bradley Beal on a team as solid across the board as the Indiana Pacers could transform them into Eastern Conference contenders, and that’s something worth considering even if the price is high.