The Ivica Zubac deal has aged into one of those moves that keeps making the Pacers look smarter by the year.
Indiana didn’t just land a big man in Zubac. It turned a messy collection of assets into a player who helped define this stretch of Pacers basketball, even as the franchise’s other major moves for Tyrese Haliburton and Pascal Siakam deserve their own credit. The Zubac trade, though, is the one that took a gap year and turned it into something sturdier.
The full package was substantial. Ivica Zubac and Kobe Brown went to the 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 went to LA. A future first in 2031 was then returned to Indiana after the 2026 pick was conveyed.
On the Clippers’ side, the picture is murkier. Mathurin remains unsigned, and while the Arizona Wildcat had some moments late in the season for a Clippers team that got much younger over the last six months, he probably won’t be brought back.
Jackson, meanwhile, never became what Indiana hoped when it traded up for him in 2021. The article describes him as a draft bust and says his NBA career will likely be ending soon.
That leaves Wagler, the 2029 first-rounder, and a second-round pick as the real cost of Zubac. On paper, that already looks like a strong deal. But the Pacers also got something less obvious and arguably more valuable: because they paid their first-round pick now instead of later, they can trade two of their future firsts if they need to.
And the early read on Wagler has only made the trade look better for Indiana. He has looked rough, moving poorly and showing the lack of NBA athleticism that some feared would show up when he was drafted. The Clippers could have made the Pacers look foolish if they had taken standout Mikel Brown Jr., but they went with the Illinois product instead.
Of course, Las Vegas Summer League does not settle everything. Wagler could still turn into a star, and that has happened before. But right now, the trade looks like a strong one for a team that expects to be back in contention soon.
There’s something almost absurd about how Indiana has built this roster. In a league that treats the draft like the only real path to team-building, the Pacers have traded for four of their five presumed starters. They got their two best bench players through free agency and trade, with TJ McConnell and Obi Toppin, and only one of their top seven came via the draft - and that player was a second-round pick.
The result is a team assembled in a way that should be hard to pull off, but somehow worked anyway. The Pacers have burned through rebuild draft capital on busts and disappointments, and only Ben Sheppard remains from their first-round picks over the last decade. Even then, he barely plays.
That’s why the logic around Indiana’s future trades has shifted so much. If the Pacers make another deal, the thinking goes, it will probably work out even if it looks shaky at first. The media blasted the Zubac trade when it happened.
They were wrong.
In Other News...
Pacers Fans Never Expected To Hear LeBron Linked To This Team
LeBron James next stop suddenly became a real conversation after his camp said he will not return to the Lakers next season, putting one of the leagues biggest names back on the market. For Pacers fans, the intrigue is obvious: Indiana is now being mentioned alongside a few familiar contenders, but the idea of LeBron in a Pacers uniform still feels like the kind of rumor that would have sounded far-fetched not long ago.
There is at least one Indiana connection already in place, with LeBron set to host a live Mind the Game show with Tyrese Haliburton at Fanatics Fest. Beyond the off-court buzz, the on-court fit is what has people talking, because a lineup built around LeBron, Haliburton and Pascal Siakam would instantly change the Pacers ceiling while forcing some familiar role players into new spots. The question now is whether that kind of pairing ever moves from summer chatter to something much more serious. [Read more 🡒]
Pacers Just Made A Telling Quenton Jackson Decision
Quenton Jacksons season was enough to earn him a longer look in Indiana, and the Pacers made that clear by keeping the guard around for 2025-26. After carving out a real role during the year, he turned a partial guarantee into a standard deal and will now be part of the teams plans moving forward.
Jacksons path has been a useful one for a Pacers roster that always has to balance development with flexibility. He appeared in 49 games and made 19 starts while giving Indiana steady backcourt minutes, and his new contract gives the team another familiar piece as it continues sorting out the rest of the roster. [Read more 🡒]
Pacers Summer Standout Suddenly Has Fans Watching One Roster Battle Closely
The Pacers fourth summer league game offered another look at the young group, and Jalen Slawson kept making a case that he belongs in the conversation. He finished with 20 points, nine rebounds and four blocks in the 114-98 loss to Minnesota, while Braden Smith steadied things with eight points, eight assists and six rebounds after a rough outing the night before. Taelon Peter added nine points and Keba Keita chipped in 10 points and five rebounds, giving Indiana a few useful performances even as the team trailed early and never really got back into it.
What makes Slawson especially interesting now is that he has been one of the more productive players in the building all summer, and that kind of consistency tends to sharpen the eye on roster decisions. Smiths response was encouraging too, particularly in how he handled the ball and created for others, and with one summer league game left against Atlanta, the Pacers have at least one more chance to sort through a few intriguing evaluations before the focus shifts back to the bigger picture. [Read more 🡒]