Pacers to trade No. 23 pick in this year's NBA Draft, Mojave King to Pelicans for 2026 first-rounder
Rarely do teams make any kind of trade while they are in the NBA Finals — the whole organization is obsessively focused on the games (and you can't trade players while in the Finals, anyway).
However, the Indiana Pacers did a nifty little bit of work during the Finals, agreeing to a trade with the New Orleans Pelicans, a story broken by Shams Charania of ESPN and later confirmed by the teams. The Pacers are sending the No. 23 pick in this year's NBA Draft and the rights to Mojave King to the Pelicans in exchange for returning the rights to Indiana's own 2026 first-rounder.
Full trade details: pic.twitter.com/TZUKqPY8zt
The Pacers had traded their 2026 pick to Toronto as part of the Pascal Siakam trade. The Raptors then traded the pick to the Pelicans in the Brandon Ingram trade.
The Pelicans now hold the No. 7 and No. 23 picks in this draft, which they could package in trades to move up in the draft or acquire another player. Or, New Orleans could use the picks to add depth to their roster. The Los Angeles Lakers drafted Mojave King in the second round of the 2023 NBA Draft and is currently playing in New Zealand.
This was a clever play by the Pacers.
A shrewd little piece of off-day capology from Indy, swapping '25 first for '26 and thus opening roster spot, gaining a few $ in apron wiggle room, taking Stepien out of play on '27 pick, and unencumbering the '27 second from Utah and '28 second from Dallas. Can now trade four 1sts if they wished.
The Pacers gain about $3.2 million in cap space by not having to pay the No. 23 pick, putting them almost $20 million below the luxury tax line. Indiana plans to re-sign Myles Turner this summer, likely for around $30 million a year, and while ownership reportedly is willing to go into the tax to do it this lessens the tax blow a little.
Also, with control of their own 2026 pick, the Pacers now have four first-round picks they can trade this offseason, if they choose.
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