It’s officially the time of year where everyone who didn’t make the playoffs speculates about the next season, and the Pacers’ aren’t immune.
In the last week we have graded a number of different trade ideas from around the internet from national outlets such as the Athletic and Bleacher Report. And the majority of them are absolute trash. Given that they are national outlets they often treat the Pacers as if they exist as a farm team for all of the other teams in the NBA, sending our best players to the team for pennies on the dollar.
Of course, this is the nature of these things. One fanbase wants to either feel like their players are worth substantially more than they are or be outraged at the fact that another team feels their players are worth more than they are.
But once in awhile, a trade so awful comes along that you just have to wonder what in the world the writer was thinking. This ladies and gentleman, is one of those trades.
The Pacers decide to trade away the center that is working, for one that likely won’t.
In this trade, proposed by Bleacher Report, the Pacers trade away significant assets for Deandre Ayton, a player they pursued prior to the season.
Of course, the time to make this kind of deal would have been LAST YEAR. Myles Turner is coming off of his best season as a pro and solidifying himself as the starting center of the future. He showed that his connection with Tyrese Haliburton was a sustainable one that could be relied upon for years in the future.
And on top of that, Myles has become an even more valuable asset given that his contract was so front-loaded that his contract is MORE valuable in the coming years and is locked in for two more years.
So why in the world would the Pacers trade away a starting center on a team friendly contract for two years in addition to a first round pick for Deandre Ayton? Well, let’s take a look at how Deandre Ayton did this year after getting the massive deal from the Suns.
The grade of this proposed swap hinges on the value of Deandre Ayton.
How bad or good of a trade this is depends entirely on the value of Deandre Ayton. So let’s review the basics.
Ayton’s stats this season: 67 games, 18 points, 10 rebounds, 1.7 assists, on 59% FG and 29% FG3.
As a reference point:
Turner’s stats this season: 62 games, 18 points, 7.5 rebounds, 1.4 assists, 55% FG, and 37% FG3.
So Ayton has marginally more rebounds, but is a substantially worse shooter. The Pacers literally already have a center on their team producing as much as Ayton (on a better contract remind you), and yet they would give that center up along with multiple other assets to bring in Ayton?
I don’t know why in the world the Pacers would even consider this if the Suns called it in. Kevin Pritchard would probably laugh as he hung up the phone hearing this offer. The Suns should be throwing in additional assets to bring in Turner to open up salary for additional depth on their team, not the other way around.
Our grade on this trade? D-