Grade the Trade: Pacers land $102 million forward in mock deal

After years of suffering through mediocrity, the Indiana Pacers are set up beautifully for the future. In fact, they’re set up so well that they could afford to take a swing in the coming years.

The Pacers have some intriguing assets they could throw into trades, but more importantly, they have enough matching salaries to make a larger deal work.

Guys like Daniel Theis and TJ McConnell would be perfect salaries to throw into a trade, but the ultimate trade-bait salary on the roster is Buddy Hield, who will be in the final year of his contract.

Grade the Trade: Indiana Pacers acquire Kyle Kuzma in mock trade with Washington Wizards

Zach Buckley of Bleacher Report recently wrote an article detailing potential trades for every team in the NBA, and one of the ones he suggested would see the Pacers land Kyle Kuzma in a deal with the Washington Wizards.

Here’s the full outline of the proposed trade:

Washington handed Kuzma a shiny new contract extension this summer worth $102 million over four years. The 28-year-old big man had a solid season for the Wizards last year.

In 64 games, Kuzma played a career-high 35.0 minutes per contest. He averaged 21.2 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 3.7 assists per game while shooting 44.8% from the field and 33.3% from behind the three-point line.

For a Pacers team looking to add players at the forward position, Kuzma could be a potential solution, and this would be somewhat of a blockbuster move, considering the pieces and money involved.

Let’s take a look at what each team would think of this trade and give it a grade from both perspectives.