Pacers made surprising trade during the NBA Finals
It's not every day that you see a team in the middle of the NBA Finals making a trade. Really, the only other time I can remember it happening was a few years ago when the Denver Nuggets made one of the weirdest, most inconsequential deals for a 2024 first-round pick by trading a pick in 2029.
Denver did that to add another cheap salary to its roster immediately. It also created a bit of space for the Nuggets to pay the players on its roster who were about to win a championship.
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Here we are, a few years late,r and the Indiana Pacers are doing the same thing.
Indiana agreed to trade the No. 23 overall pick in the draft and the rights to Mojave King to the Pelicans to reclaim the team's own 2026 first-round pick that had previously been traded away, according to ESPN's Shams Charania.
While this trade might feel a bit insignificant in the moment, it does quite a bit of work for the Pacers' offseason moving forward.
The Pacers save a bit of money by trading away their first-round pick for this season, which makes it easier for Indiana to sign Myles Turner while avoiding the luxury tax, NBA cap expert Yossi Gozlan says.
It also gives Indiana a bit more firepower to potentially make a significant deal down the line. Indiana owns all of its draft picks through 2026 through 2032. If the Pacers see a player they desperately want, they can package those picks and potentially make a deal similar to what the Orlando Magic did with Desmond Bane.
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MORE MAGIC: Who won the trade between the Magic and Grizzlies?
This trade doesn't matter for the Pacers in this moment. It won't help them in the finals. But it does make the path forward for keeping this team together and potentially improving it a tiny bit easier. That matters a lot for a smaller market like the Pacers — especially now that this team is officially a title contender and maybe an NBA champion.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: Pacers made surprising trade during the NBA Finals
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