Typical wisdom in the NBA would state that you need to build your team through the draft. Only the select few big-market franchises can fully leverage free agency, and everyone else can only really find superstars with some lottery luck and a lot of scouting.
Just look at the Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs. Both of the best teams in the universally hailed "stronger conference" (who just so happen to both be in smaller markets) have drafted and developed at least half of their starters and the vast majority of their bench pieces.
That's the easiest way to do it, apparently. Drafting a player requires only the pick it takes to select them and offers teams cost-controlled talent for years at a time.
And yet, there is another way to do things. There are trades. The New York Knicks used the allure of the greatest city in the world to sign Jalen Brunson before trading for Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby, and Karl-Anthony Towns.
These deals risk far more, requiring far higher operating costs and endangering the future stability of the franchise. A bad draft pick can get a GM fired; a bad trade can leave a team in purgatory. Just look at the difference between the Atlanta Hawks, who wasted a first overall pick, and the Dallas Mavericks, who made a dreadful trade by giving up Luka Dončić for nothing.
With all that danger, with all the issues a misstep would cause, there are front offices who refuse to ever make any big trades.
The Indiana Pacers are not that front office. Better yet, they have yet to be burned by a move they've made in over a decade.
Indiana has made 31 trades since the start of the 2019 offseason that was kicked off by a move for TJ Warren. Within that seven year span, the worst trade the Pacers made was (drumroll please)...
Getting back a couple of second rounders and Doug McDermott for Buddy Hield.
That's the worst move in that list.
Pacers keep pulling off the impossible
It's far easier to not lose a trade if you bring back draft picks. If you've ever seen the Family Guy meme about a mystery box, just envision a box that could contain a boat as a first-round pick that could be a lottery-level talent.
The Pacers have largely ignored that logic. They have been the kings of player-for-player deals since they moved Paul George to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis.
Since then, they've moved Sabonis and some contracts (but no picks) for Tyrese Haliburton and some contracts (but also no picks). To follow that up, they've acquired Aaron Nesmith for disgruntled sixth man Malcolm Brogdon and, most critically, made the trade for Ivica Zubac, which now looks even more one-sided after the NBA's forfeiture of the pick owned by the LA Clippers.
Best of all, this is the team that got Pascal Siakam for two late first-round picks and Bruce Brown's one-year, championship-inflated non-guaranteed contract. Talk about a heist!
The Pacers have not meaningfully lost a move in ages despite making a massive volume of trades. They may not get free agents to come to Indiana, and they may not be able to draft well (seriously, do not check their history there), but this front office is certainly elite in that aspect.
Without extra avenues for success, being excellent at succeeding on a razor's edge is clearly a boon for the Pacers.
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