Coming into this NBA season, the Pacers were one of the many teams on Viktor watch. They were not supposed to be a playoff team so many figured that they would be tanking to give them the best chance at the uber-talented Frenchman who is all but penciled in to be the number one overall pick in this upcoming NBA draft. About a quarter of the way through the season, however, the Pacers sit as the 5th seed in the Eastern Conference with a record of 13-11. They're currently on a West Coast swing which has included a buzzer-beater victory over the Lakers, and an impressive win over the reigning champion Golden State Warriors. They boast a young core of Tyrese Haliburton who has been one of the best point guards in basketball currently, Eastern Conference rookie of the month Bennedict Mathurin, and rookie guard Andrew Nembhard who scored 31 points and outdueled Steph Curry last night. This is on top of having two talented players Buddy Hield and Myles Turner. The Pacers used to be a beast in the Eastern Conference, with Paul George putting up a fight against Lebron James and the Miami Heat year after year in the playoffs. Then in 2017, George requested a trade out of Indiana. This is the point where things started to spiral for the Pacers, and although they have made the playoffs since, they have not been competitive. The Paul George trade is the reason this team took a dive, and the trade could be the reason they return to the point they were once at.
George's trade request was granted, and that offseason he was traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder in exchange for Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis. Both were solid players for the Pacers averaging 20/5/4 and 16/10/4 during their time respectively. The Pacers made the playoffs in the years both those guys were on the team for the full season as well. The future of the team did not have either of them in the long-term plans, so both were eventually shipped off.
When James Harden requested his trade out of Houston, the Pacers jumped in to become one of the four teams involved in the deal. On their side, they sent Oladipo off to the Rockets in exchange for Caris Levert from the Nets, and a 2023 second-round pick from the Rockets. After a year with the organization, Levert was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers in exchange for Ricky Rubio, a 2022 lottery-protected first-round pick, and a second-round pick in 2022 and 2027. Due to the Cavs losing in the play-in game to the Brooklyn Nets, the first-round pick moved back to 2023. If the Cavs fail to make it out of the lottery this year then the Pacers will receive the Cavs' 2025 second-round pick and the Lakers' 2026 second-round pick. The 2022 second-rounder that the Cavs sent in the deal ended up being the first pick in the second round which the Pacers used to draft the aforementioned Andrew Nembhard. Rubio was all but a salary dump, as he had a torn ACL and never played for the Pacers before hitting free agency this past summer. Two second-rounders and a potential first-rounder remain, but that's all but the end of the Oladipo leg of this journey.
The Pacers held on to Sabonis for another year after they dealt Oladipo before shipping him off to the Sacramento Kings. Along with Sabonis, the Pacers traded Jeremy Lamb, Justin Holiday, and a 2023 second-round pick in exchange for Tyrese Haliburton, Buddy Hield, and Tristan Thompson. Thompson was on the Pacers for eleven days, appearing in four games before being bought out.
Thanks to a poor 2021-2022 season the Pacers got the 6th pick in the draft where they selected Bennedict Mathurin out of the University of Arizona. Mathurin has been a bright spot on this young team who has impressed lately, and with some more draft capital in the next coming drafts, the Pacers could become a young team to watch a few years down the line.
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