The Indiana Pacers have built a strange kind of trade machine.
In a league where most teams are told to grow the slow, safe way - draft, develop, repeat - Indiana has kept finding value in the riskier lane. Trades can wreck a franchise when they go wrong.
They can also reshape one when they go right. The Pacers, for years now, have been living in that second world.
Since the start of the 2019 offseason, when the TJ Warren move kicked things off, Indiana has made 31 trades. And in that stretch, the worst one the Pacers have made was getting back a couple of second rounders and Doug McDermott for Buddy Hield.
That’s the low point.
A lot of teams would love to say that.
Indiana has not leaned on the easiest route, either. Draft picks can be the cleanest way to add talent, but the Pacers have mostly gone the player-for-player route, turning one roster piece into another without loading up on pick-heavy deals. That approach has worked out in a big way since the Paul George deal sent him to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis.
From there, the Pacers kept swinging and kept landing.
They moved Sabonis and some contracts, but no picks, for Tyrese Haliburton and some contracts, but also no picks. They got Aaron Nesmith for disgruntled sixth man Malcolm Brogdon. They also made the trade for Ivica Zubac, a deal that looks even more lopsided now after the NBA’s forfeiture of the pick owned by the LA Clippers.
And then there’s the Pascal Siakam deal, which came together for two late first-round picks and Bruce Brown's one-year, championship-inflated non-guaranteed contract.
Talk about a heist.
That’s the bigger picture with Indiana: the Pacers may not be a free-agent destination, and their draft history is not exactly the place to go looking for comfort, but this front office has been elite at the one area where it has consistently chosen to operate. In a business where one bad move can send a team spiraling, Indiana has somehow kept turning the hard stuff into wins.
In Other News...
Pacers May Have To Make Painful Moves To Keep A Bigger Dream Alive
The Pacers have been navigating a familiar small-market problem for years: even when the roster is competitive, free agency does not usually hand them a simple path to a major upgrade. With limited cap space and a market that has to work harder than most to lure outside talent, Indianas options often come down to uncomfortable choices, including whether to keep its own free agents or let some walk in order to preserve flexibility.
That kind of planning can stretch several offseasons into the future, especially if the front office wants to position itself for the 2028 free agent class. But getting there could mean resisting the urge to spend now, and even considering trades that move future free agents or draft assets out of the way. For a team trying to keep a bigger dream alive, the cost of creating that room may end up being just as significant as the move it makes with it. [Read more 🡒]
Pacers Face A Tough Trade Question Around Michael Porter Jr
The Pacers have spent enough time building around Tyrese Haliburton and Pascal Siakam to know what the next step should look like, and the profile is pretty clear: a third high-level scorer who can space the floor, create his own shot and hold up on the wing. Michael Porter Jr. checks a lot of those boxes on paper, which is why his name stands out in any conversation about how Indiana could raise its ceiling without disrupting the balance of its core.
The problem is fitting that kind of talent into a payroll that already has bigger issues lurking ahead. Indiana is staring at salary-cap strain in the coming years, with several important free agents set to reach the market in 2028, and that makes any pursuit of Porter more complicated than simply asking whether he fits next to Haliburton and Siakam. The Pacers have to weigh the obvious basketball appeal against the possibility that one swing now could leave the roster less flexible when the next round of decisions arrives. [Read more 🡒]
Pacers Need More Than Hype From Ivica Zubac This Season
Ivica Zubacs arrival last season gave Indiana another big body to build around, and this fall the Pacers are counting on that addition to look less like a simple roster move and more like a real fit. With Tyrese Haliburton back from injury, the opening-night setup will offer an early glimpse at how Zubac can complement Indianas pace and playmaking, especially in a frontcourt role that should help stabilize the group around him.
The expectations are not small. RotoWire projects Zubac for 14.5 points, 11 rebounds, 2.2 assists and a block per game, numbers that would give the Pacers a dependable interior presence on both ends. For a team trying to take a step forward, the bigger question is whether Zubac can turn that projection into consistent production once the games start to count. [Read more 🡒]