The Pacers Are Officially Going For It As They Trade For All-Star And NBA Champion Pascal Siakam
NO NEED FOR THE PLAYOFFS! MAIL THE LARRY O'BRIEN TROPHY TO INDIANA ASAP! Pascal Siakam will be the second piece of what will make the Pacers big 3.
Haliburton + Siakam + ????
Siakam has been rumored in trades to the Pacers for awhile, and Indiana has finally pulled the trigger to bring Haliburton a star two-way player to help out on both sides of the court. This is a great addition for the Pacers who are extremely undersized and have struggled against teams built with length. The only problem, Indiana has given up quite the haul for to bring in the 6'8" Power Forward for essentially 40 games + the playoffs before Siakam hits free agency at the end of the season.
In the end, what may look like a lot, isn't as much as you'd think. Pacers didn't have to give up their young studs Mathurin and Walker. 3 first rounders sounds insane, but they would be late 1st rounders in two weak drafts where the Pacers don't have any room to bring on young talent to find minutes for. Bruce Brown was a solid addition to this Pacers roster, but the Pacers had to overpay with starter $ for what was essentially a rental contract on a solid role player. Jordan Nwora *fart noise* has played one good game against the Wizards, so no one is crying over him leaving. This seems like a lot to some, but you get to recruit Pascal for next season, and if he doesn't mesh well you gave up assets in 1st rounders you necessarily need and Bruce Brown who was on his way out without tying up a ton of $ for the future. You have to give something to get something, look at what the Knicks and Raptors did with the trade for OG, a lot was given up but it worked out for both teams.
The Pacers expectations from "the experts" (not the trivia team) was making the playoff play-in games, but then Haliburton decided to start transforming into a super star and that window moved up. The Pacers show they are serious with this trade, and now I think if the Pacers don't win a play-off at least 1 playoff series this season, this revamped roster will have fallen short of expectations.
Who is the 3rd piece the Pacers need? Ben Mathurin is already a walking bucket who won't turn 22 till after the season. Hopefully he develops into a two-way player and the Pacers can sign him to a max contract and round out a their Big 3.