In one of the most shocking deals in recent sports history, the Dallas Mavericks traded star Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for Anthony Davis. Most NBA fans were left scratching their head, wondering why the Mavericks would make such a drastic move less than a year after their first NBA Finals appearance in over a decade.
While Doncic and Davis were rightfully the two most-discussed pieces of this blockbuster trade, there were other players involved in the deal, including a target the Indiana Pacers may have had interest in.
Pacers explored a trade for Maxi Kleber
According to HoopsHype's Michael Scotto, the Pacers and Mavericks held "exploratory trade talks" that would have sent Maxi Kleber to Indiana and Obi Toppin to Dallas.
"Lastly, Dallas previously discussed Maxi Kleber in exploratory trade talks with the Indiana Pacers for forward Obi Toppin before including him in the Doncic trade, league sources told HoopsHype."
This trade would have been an interesting one for Indiana, especially since Toppin and Kleber both play power forward. Furthermore, Kleber just turned 33 while Toppin turns 27 next month. The main appeal to this trade would have been that Kleber makes slightly less money than Toppin, so it would have shed some salary for the Pacers. Even so, this trade would not have made much sense for Indiana.
Of course, as Scotto puts it, these talks were just exploratory, and it is not known what the rest of the trade could have looked like if the talks progressed. Regardless, Toppin's status ahead of Thursday's trade deadline is worth monitoring for Pacers fans.
For much of the season, the expectation was that, if the Pacers were going to make a notable trade during the year, it likely would be a deal to move on from Toppin and his salary. However, because of his play this year, it seems that head coach Rick Carlisle may not be a fan of trading the New York native this season.
As it stands, the Pacers are 27-20 and now own the No. 4 seed in the East. They have lost just two games since the start of the year and are red-hot. At this point, it seems unlikely they would make a move to drastically shake up their roster and risk messing with the team's chemistry. However, it is also no secret that the Pacers may become an expensive team in the offseason if they re-sign Myles Turner and extend Bennedict Mathurin. It is fair to assume Toppin will remain a Pacer past Thursday, but if Doncic can get traded at this point in the year, anybody can.