For the first time perhaps in franchise history the Indiana Pacers are tanking. The front office, coaching staff, and players may not call it that but the playoffs are already out of the picture due to injuries decimating the roster and trades have shaken up the core of the team. The Pacers should have their highest pick in a NBA draft since 1988.
By trading 2 time All-Star Domantas Sabonis to the Sacramento Kings for a package centered around second year Guard Tyrese Haliburton the Pacers made it clear this won’t be a tear it down to the studs style rebuild.
ESPN Front Office Insider Bobby Marks spent over a decade with the Brooklyn (New Jersey) Nets and was part of a long rebuild with the franchise. He joined JMV on Wednesday to explain why the Pacers plan to rebuild this team is the right way of doing it:
“Full scale rebuilds are really hard. You look at what’s going on in Detroit, Orlando, Sacramento has been doing it forever and to trade Sabonis for just a couple 1st round picks you would have been waiting for awhile. With this trade you get Haliburton and Hield back who has a couple years left on his contract you get guys that help you now and you still keep your flexibility to do multiple different things this offseason and I think that was the goal. If Haliburton was on a De’Aaron Fox type contract I don’t know how much of an appetite there would be for that.”
The Pacers currently boast the 5th worst record in the NBA and with it brings a 42.1% chance at a top 4 pick and a 10.5% chance at the #1 overall pick in the upcoming draft.
If you missed any of JMV’s interview with Bobby Marks listen to the podcast below! They talk about some of the top prospects in the upcoming draft, how Haliburton will fit alongside Brogdon, if the Pacers can follow the same rebuild plan as the Memphis Grizzlies, and how some of the moves around the deadline will shape the league heading into the playoffs.
