Indiana Pacers: 4 teams to avoid in a Myles Turner deal

The Boston Celtics’ possible trade returns for Myles Turner won’t fill a need for the Indiana Pacers

As if the Celtics’ relative success against the Indiana Pacers in recent seasons isn’t enough, trading Myles Turner to Boston will only fulfill their overdue need for a floor spacing big man. Worse is that their possible returns for the big man aren’t necessarily needle movers for the Blue and Gold.

While the Celtics already have Al Horford back, the former All-Star can only manage so much on his own with his advanced age. Thus, they may still be very interested in pursuing Turner who, in theory, is the perfect center to fit next to Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.

However, the players projected to be dangled to the Pacers, namely Marcus Smart and Tristan Thompson, don’t fill positions of need for Indiana. The former is wonderful on his own right, but Malcolm Brogdon is already on board and TJ McConnell is likely to remain anyway. Meanwhile, having the latter is counterintuitive, especially since the premise of trading Turner in the first place is to shift to a small-ball approach.