Grade the Trade: Bill Simmons pitches wild Pacers deal for Suns star

The Indiana Pacers have had a banger of an offseason thus far. They took a top prospect in the NBA Draft, extracting a pair of second-round picks in the process for essentially free. They signed NBA champion Bruce Brown in free agency, utilizing their cap space now for team control later. A maximum extension for Tyrese Haliburton will keep a budding franchise icon around for a long time. Finally, the Pacers spent just two second-round picks to add underutilized Knicks forward Obi Toppin.

The Pacers are being mentioned among the winners of the offseason, and rightfully so. They used the assets available to them to make their team better, without mortgaging their future to serve the present. They will be a better team next season than they were this year, no question.

Which leads to the next question: should the Pacers make an even bigger move to try and be even better next season?

Could the Pacers cap this summer with a big trade?

That was the approach of Bill Simmons, head of The Ringer and longtime NBA trade peddler. He often discusses NBA trade ideas on his podcast, humbly named “The Bill Simmons podcast.” On a recent episode with Ryen Russilo, they discussed Indiana as having one of their favorite offseasons, and then Simmons shifted to the idea of a trade to help them take an even bigger leap.

The team Simmons targeted for the trade? The Phoenix Suns. He pitched a bold trade that would see the Pacers add a max player. Should the Pacers be looking for a big move on the trade market? Let’s first look at the deal itself, and then see if that deal makes sense for the Pacers to pull the trigger on.