Indiana Pacers: 3 trades with the Warriors for Myles Turner, ranked from best to worst

The Warriors can field an intriguing offer for Indiana Pacers’ Myles Turner

Indiana makes for a wonderful trade partner because the team boasts a roster full of fringe All-Stars and key rotation players who have great contracts. Myles Turner is one of those, with him still locked up for two more years under 20 million per season.

The same can’t be said for Golden State though, with the franchise paying the luxury tax for quite some time now. Sure, Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green deserve every penny of their contracts, but Andrew Wiggins, their third-most expensive player, is probably overpriced at 29 million per year, despite his renewed proficiency as an above-average two-way player.

On that virtue, the Warriors may probably offer a deal like this:

On the surface, this isn’t a bad deal at all, especially with the Pacers essentially getting two great assets in Wiggins and the 7th overall pick, as well as an explosive bench piece in Paschall, in this trade. However, the downside is that Indiana has long avoided booming contracts, or absorbing such, because it limits the team’s flexibility and is a giant risk on a small market like Indiana where even their own stars are constant flight risks.

Really, the only way for this to happen is if the Pacers feel that the urge to shift to small ball is stronger than an intermittent, yet harmless, period to test out the current crop under a prized head coach. After all, this deal can extend over to the trade deadline, when both teams have a clearer grasp of what their rosters need to better compete.

Ultimately, this will be a question of principles on the part of Indiana. After all, while giving up the seventh pick is quite heavy, the Warriors will probably take a liking to this deal since Turner is a very good fit in theory to complement their roster. Also, the 13th pick isn’t a bad position to select in this deep draft. Wiggins’ massive contract may be the impetus that gives the Pacers the leverage here.