The Ivica Zubac trade will likely define this era of Indiana Pacers basketball. While there must be credence given to the incredible moves that Kevin Pritchard made for Tyrese Haliburton and Pascal Siakam, the Zubac deal took a gap year and solidified it into the big man from the Baltics.
The move in its entirety was as follows: Ivica Zubac and Kobe Brown became Pacers, while Benedict Mathurin, Isaiah Jackson, the pick that became the fifth overall pick this year (Keaton Wagler), a 2029 first-round draft selection, and a random 2028 second-round pick ended up in LA.
A future first in 2031 was returned to the Pacers after the 2026 pick was conveyed.
Ivica Zubac trade keeps looking better for the Pacers
Questions remain on the Clippers side, as Mathurin remains unsigned. The Arizona Wildcat had some moments down the stretch for a Clippers side that got decidedly younger in just about six months, but probably won't be brought back.
Isaiah Jackson was a draft bust for the Pacers, whom they traded up for in 2021. He will likely see his NBA career coming to an end relatively soon.
That leaves Wagler, a 2029 1st rounder, and a second-round pick as the price for Zubac. That seems like quite a good price on the surface, but it has one unintended benefit.
Because the Pacers paid their first-round pick now instead of later, they will have the ability to trade two of their future firsts if needed.
It certainly also helps that Wagler has looked awful, moving poorly and displaying the lack of NBA athleticism that many feared would rear its ugly head when he was drafted. The Clippers could've made the Pacers look foolish if they had taken standout Mikel Brown Jr, but they opted for the Illinois product instead.
Admittedly, Las Vegas Summer League is not the be-all and end-all of prospect development. Wagler could well become a star – it has happened before. But the trade looks like an excellent move for a team that plans to be contending again very soon.
It is a little funny. In an NBA ecosystem that insists that the way to build a team is through the draft, the Pacers have traded for four of their five assumed starters. They acquired their two best bench players in free agency and in trade (TJ McConnell and Obi Toppin), and have drafted just one of their top seven, who they found in the second round.
The Pacers have built a team in a way that seems not just improbable but impossible. They have spent all of the draft picks of their rebuild on busts and disappointments. Of their first-round picks over the past decade, only Ben Sheppard is still on the roster. And he barely plays!
In the future, the logic would dictate that any trade the Pacers make will be a win, even if it looks bad at first. The media panned the Zubac trade when it first happened.
They've been proven wrong.
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