As the season slowly comes closer and closer into view, the offseason conversely slows down. There is less and less to cover and less and less to worry about. At this point, whatever happens will happen.
However, there are always things to prepare for, and as the Indiana Pacers prepare for the season, they must also consider the eventualities regarding what this roster still needs. With that comes internal development, outside free agents, and, titularly, trades.
But it's hard to do for the Pacers. This is a roster that could benefit greatly from adding some talent.
They lack real off-the-bounce shooting outside of Andrew Nembhard and Tyrese Haliburton, who is still rehabbing an Achilles injury in hopes of returning on opening night. The bench lacks any real size while also failing to offer any minutes for anyone beyond the top eight.
Still, that implies that there is an easy choice to make. Find a shooter who can come off the bench and convince him to play as the ninth man off the bench.
The issue with that is you need to give up something to get something back. And while the Pacers have three tradeable firsts, all of their contracts are more valuable to them than they are to any other team. To trade one of those pieces would have potentially devastating effects.
Simply, it's hard to find any targets that make sense.
Why trade for anyone then?
If the conversation around trades is already so self-defeating, why bother? Why even look for trade options if it's already understood that none of them make sense?
Well, the truth is that, despite how Fanspo and other trade machines make it seem, trades are often difficult to justify. Teams view deals as a way to raise their floor or ceiling while often thinking they already have the answers in-house.
The Pacers clearly feel the same way.
Why give up picks to get a player like Trey Murphy or Herb Jones when you already have Aaron Nesmith and Pascal Siakam playing better in the same roles without having to pay a premium for them?
For a trade to make sense, it would have to give Indiana a new dimension, a different change of pace that they do not have yet. That trade likely doesn't exist. But what shape would something like that take?
The Pacers play the most well-balanced basketball of any team in the NBA. They have a leading scorer, as all teams do, but they have no star scorer. If they were able to find someone like that, then maybe their approach to offense would change. If they could find an elite turnover forcer, they could maximize their fast break.
Neither of those exists in the NBA ecosystem right now. Well, they do, but there is no option in those roles better than the current players occupying them: Siakam and TJ McConnell.
Maybe that will materialize, but for the time being, there is simply no move that makes any sense. That may change, but only with time and, unfortunately, with failure.
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