ESPN proposes interesting Indiana Pacers-Portland Trail Blazers trade

8Currently in the middle of their longest losing streak yet, the Indiana Pacers suddenly find themselves at crossroads with the season barely past its midseason point. After an encouraging start to their 2022-23 campaign, Tyrese Haliburton’s injury coinciding with major individual slumps has effectively spring-boarded a free fall in the standings for the Blue and Gold.

It’s easy to pin all of the team’s struggles to Haliburton’s absence, but the unerring thing stands that multiple players have failed to step up and rise to the plate. How much that moves the needle for the front office with the trade deadline just a few weeks away remains to be seen, but devout fans of the “keep player X” should be having some degree of hesitation right now at the least.

Current struggles could force the Indiana Pacers to ramp up activity before the trade deadline

Most rumors have the Pacers zeroing in on their veteran players if they want to double down on ramping up activity before the trade deadline. However, in addition, the team has some roster overlaps which they can solve via the trade market. In fact, one can argue that Indiana’s roster is one of the less balanced ones in the league.

Conjunctively, ESPN recently proposed a potential trade that the Indiana Pacers can perhaps draw up with the similarly struggling Portland Trail Blazers. Let’s take a dive on how such hypothetical deal can affect both teams.