One of the biggest stories of the offseason so far is the availability of a future NBA Hall-of-Famer during free agency. The question is does this impact the Pacers in any way? We discuss three reasons why it both does and doesn’t.
BREAKING: Phoenix Suns have notified star Chris Paul that he will be waived, making the future Hall of Famer one of the top free agents this offseason, league sources tell @NBAonTNT, @BleacherReport.
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) June 7, 2023
1. We already have a starting point guard
The biggest thing against this development impacting us is that we already have a point guard who is probably playing better than Chris Paul is capable at this stage in his career. That’s not to diminish CP, but he is on the back nine of his career while Tyrese is just taking off. It probably doesn’t make sense for the Pacers to pursue Chris Paul in free agency or via trade.
2. He doesn’t fit the timeline of the team
The other piece to this is that he doesn’t fit the current timeline of the team. At this stage in his career, Paul will have to go somewhere where he can feel he can win in the next couple of years, because that might be all he has left in the league. The Pacers are in the middle of a rebuild and CP at this point would be more of a finishing touch on a team.
3. It could allow things to shuffle up in terms of cap spacing
Where the Pacers could get involved is a team needing to free up cap space in order to bring Paul in. One prime example would be the Bucks needing to free up space to bring in Jae Crowder this year and the Pacers taking advantage of that to acquire Jordan Nwora. These aren’t big moves, but a true rebuild is a series of small successful steps forward.
It’s likely it won’t impact the Pacers in any meaningful way. But KP and the crew should keep an eye to where CP might land as there may be small undervalued pieces that become available that the Pacers can capitalize on.