When the Indiana Pacers made an aggressive move for Ivica Zubac at the trade deadline, they did so knowing that the package they were giving up (two first-round picks, Bennedict Mathurin, and Isaiah Jackson) was the foundation of a deal that could be sent out for a bigger star.
Zubac is an excellent player no doubt, one of the most underrated bigs across a league that sees him as a throwback, but is he worth multiple firsts, including one that ended up becoming a top-five pick after a gap year from Indiana?
Well, that's a question we may never have answered now. While the trade looks massively in favor of the Pacers, the Los Angeles Clippers' guilty verdict in the Kawhi Leonard-Aspiration cap-circumnavigation scandal and the loss of the 2029 Pacers pick mean the trade return for Zubac is now just Illinois wing and fifth-overall pick Keaton Wagler.
However, despite what fans are saying, whether ironically or genuinely, just because that's all the Clippers got in return for Zubac does not mean that's all the Pacers gave up.
The only thing that has changed about the trade for the Croatian big man is the optics. The Pacers no longer need to worry that the 2029 pick flies up the lottery and becomes another high pick. They don't need to worry that the Clippers would use it to bring in a star. No, there is now simply no worry that the trade could get any worse for the Pacers.
That provides no value to Indiana's chance of winning, only to the egos of Pacers fans arguing with Clippers fans.
That's not to say Clippers fans who actively caped for their billionaire owner don't deserve all the ridicule they are getting; they absolutely do. But it just does nothing for the team or its roster.
It is a moral victory, but a pyrrhic one. That pick is not coming back. It's like buying a car for a bicycle and a pile of cash, only to watch as the seller takes out a can of gasoline and lights the cash on fire.
You're still out a pile of cash, he just made his side of the deal look even worse.
At least Indiana got the car, though.
Zubac and the leaguewide perception of the trade
If Ivica Zubac were on the open market this summer, he clearly would not have been a Pacer.
Considering how heavily the Boston Celtics pursued Mitchell Robinson from the New York Knicks, or the extension the cap-strapped OKC Thunder made possible for Isaiah Hartenstein, it was clear that good teams were looking for suitable bigs and were willing to spend to get them.
Most notably, there were teams looking for center upgrades that had more assets to get them than Indiana did. What happens if the Celtics trade Jaylen Brown for two extra first-round picks, turn around, and offer those extra picks to the Clippers? Is LA going to turn down a higher volume of firsts? Absolutely not.
No, this trade was already a win, even with the fifth overall pick heading out, simply because Indiana got a great player at a position of need and struck before anyone could beat them to it. They struck early and were aggressive enough to beat the market to a player whose value has clearly gone up even with just five games played in blue and yellow.
The stripping of picks shouldn't be a part of that calculus.
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