Hottest Pacers trade rumor has disaster potential if report comes true

The Indiana Pacers are set up to be one of the biggest buyers at the trade deadline this year. With Tyrese Haliburton playing at such a high level, they are poised to make another leap.

As things stand, they’re a solid playoff team, but they don’t have the firepower to compete with the best teams in the Eastern Conference. In turn, a trade at the deadline could seriously turn the tides.

Indiana has been heavily involved in rumors heading into the February 8 deadline, and Shams Charania of The Athletic dropped a new one on Tuesday night.

According to Charania, the Pacers and the Toronto Raptors could potentially be working toward a trade for that would send Pascal Siakam to play with Haliburton.

At face value, that sounds like a great plan, as Siakam could fit in nicely with the Pacers’ lineup, but the asking price Charania mentioned would absolutely gut Indiana’s resources.

“The Raptors and Pacers are actively engaged in trade talks centered around two-time All-Star forward Pascal Siakam that would send him to Indiana for a package that includes Bruce Brown Jr., other salaries and three first-round draft picks, league sources tell The Athletic,” Charania wrote.

In addition, Charania noted that talks have amped up recently.

“The Raptors have been engaged in discussions with several teams on a potential Siakam deal, but conversations with the Pacers have gained steam in recent days, those sources say,” Charania wrote. “Sources briefed on the talks between the two teams say that there have been several back-and-forth proposals made. While the two sides have been described as being far along in the process, according to those sources, they have yet to finalize or agree to a deal.”

The key note in Charania’s report isn’t the fact that the Pacers have been talking to the Raptors about a deal but rather the fact that the supposed price would be three first-round picks.

All of Indiana’s first-rounders are tradable, but giving up three of them would seriously restrict their ability to make moves in the future. Siakam would be a perfect player to push the chips in for, but there’s a catch.

According to a recent report from long-time NBA insider Marc Stein and his newsletter, "The Stein Line," Siakam is unwilling to sign an extension with any team that trades for him and would like to test free agency. Gutting their stash of picks for Siakam would be a huge risk, and if he leaves in free agency, the deal would be a complete and utter disaster.

If the Pacers trade three firsts for Siakam and he leaves this summer, they would have very little wiggle room to improve the team around Haliburton in the future. It would be disastrous.