Indiana Pacers: Trades that could improve their wing defense

Trade No. 2

Pacers Recieve: Donte DiVincenzo

Bucks Receive: Goga Bitadze, Aaron Holiday

Why would the Pacers make this trade?

Before the person reading this asks if I’m some sort of Goga hater or if I undervalue Aaron Holiday and his shot-creating and passing upside, the answer to both of these questions is no. I simply value Donte DiVincenzo’s two-way impact on this team more than the skillsets that the aforementioned Pacers possess. It’s not hard getting a backup big man in this league, and Aaron just simply holds a skill-set redundancy on this roster that I’ve already mentioned.

In Donte, the Pacers get one of the better wing defenders at his position in the NBA, let alone under the age of 25. I gassed up Josh Okogie plenty, but even he isn’t the defender that Donte is. His defensive fundamentals are absolutely next level, as he rarely commits dumb fouls on opposing players thanks to his intuitiveness when applying contact with his hands.

Lots of young players have an awful habit of putting their arms on an opponent’s hip, trying to perpendicularly contest layups or shots, or even just unnecessarily make jabs at the ball. Donte simply doesn’t make these mistakes because he has the rare ability to keep his hands straight up while simultaneously sliding laterally to keep up with initiators. Not only is this exceptionally annoying to try and create against, but it’s almost impossible to draw fouls on players like DiVinzcenzo who’s mastered this skill.

We haven’t even mentioned what he can do off the ball, as he brings the same off-ball value that Okogie does with even better rotations and defensive IQ. With how good Donte is on the ball, you could still argue he’s even better as an off-ball defender.

Offensively, Donte projects as a legit shooter even though the volume may show differently. He has solid mechanics and a quick release, and his off-ball movement and solid playmaking abilities net him as a positive player on offense who would fit seamlessly next to Sabonis and Brogdon.

Why would the Bucks do this Trade?

With the backup spots for the Bucks looking awfully bleak from a long-term perspective, Aaron could use his star-level brother Jrue as a mentor, and Goga could do the same with Brook Lopez. In an ideal world, it’s not outlandish to project Aaron and Goga turning into these types of players with the right development, which could in theory increase Giannis’s window.

Milwaukee could use more off-the-bounce scoring and that might be Holiday’s best tool, so I wouldn’t be surprised to even see him start alongside his brother in this situation. If Goga can continue to progress as he has so far this season, he could fill a massive backup big vacancy next to Bobby Portis on the Bucks’ bench.