BeatsHaveADream
Los Angeles Lakers GM
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- 4,810
Hey All, Lets take a look back at a Franchise Saving trade that enabled the Pacers to become the #1 team of the past decade.
To set the stage a little bit, the year was 2028. The Indiana Pacers were 1 year removed from our 1st ever NBA Championship and sporting the 2nd best Regular Season Win % behind the Washington Wizards since the Creation Draft 4 years prior.
Coming off a 52 - 30 season which garnered us the 3 seed, our season would come to an abrupt end in the 2nd rd of playoffs when we matched up against the #2 Seed Boston Celtics.
This did not bode well with our Super Star player Nikola Jokic, who's 62M contact was ending after the season. As he did not offer to resign, the Pacers were forced to bid on him against the rest of the league in Free Agency.
Alas, the inevitable happened, as Jokic decided to take his talents to The Washington Wizards on a max deal (even though the Pacers had offered more).
The Pacers were in shambles as they expected to use all of their open Cap Space on retaining Jokic, and after that did not happen, they had not planned well enough for a contingency plan. They were forced to overpay Obi Toppin just to use of their cap somehow in a large 1 year contract.
Moving forward, the thought amongst ownership was that we would be selling everything off and starting a Tank to rekindle some assets.. And then all of a sudden, a deal was struck that just so happened to change the entire structure of our team:
Nets Send:
Josh Giddey
Dick Gradey
Thomas Bryant
Isaiah Hartenstein
Amani Hansberry
Nets '35 swap
Nets ‘33 swap worse of Pacers or Kings
Nets '32
Nets '34
10m
Pacers Send:
De'Aaron Fox
Post this trade we were left with Future Hall of Famer Donovan Mitchell, an overpaid Obi Toppin, and a handful of mediocre role players. This team was destined to sell off the rest of their pieces and continue the idea of a Tank Job.
However, one of our underrated Free Agent signings brought ownership a glimmer of hope, Payton Pritchard.
Payton Michael Pritchard (born January 28, 1998) played college basketball for the Oregon Ducks. As a sophomore, Pritchard was named second-team all-conference in the Pac-12. As a senior, he was a finalist for the Naismith Trophy. Pritchard was drafted 26th overall in the 2020 NBA draft by the Celtics and was soon after a journey man bouncing also to the OKC Thunder and Utah Jazz as a backup PG who never really got a real chance at being a valued starter in any organization. The Pacers signed Pritchard to a 3 yrs/11M contract in 2027 at a ripe age of 30 (8yrs after joining the league).
Immediately, the Pacers noticed that they had landed a stud PG who had been slept on his entire career. "[Pritchard] came in wanting to out-play his contract from day 1." Said GM BeatsHaveADream "He was scrappy and efficient. Man had handles as tight as a suburban mom's schedule and defense as intense as a game on Monopoly. We knew he was going to be a key piece to our team moving forward."
With this revelation, the team started to get less interested in tanking and looked more at trying to compete the rest of the core 3 contracts out. But they were still missing one crucial piece. A piece that they had actually just lost which was the best of its type in the league. They needed someone to replace Jokic.
The Pacers were already in quite the predicament as they did not own any of their own picks as they had attempted to go all in the season prior and gave up a ton for supporting pieces around Jokic, so to buy back a Big Man, they did not have much to work with.
However, a 35 year old Anthony Davis was being shopped to the league and not many takers were looking his way due to his age and potential to retire any given season.
The Pacers decided to go after this man, and used 2 draft picks from the DeAaron Fox trade to get him. Little did anyone predict, AD ended up staying around for another 4 season to retire at an old age of 39. These 4 years where the Pacers ran heavy with a core of Payton Pritchard, Donovan Mitchell, and Anthony Davis Netted them:
222-106 Regular Season Record (.677)
30-22 Playoff Record (.577)
an Eastern Conference Finals
a Finals appearance
And the big 3 landed a handful of awards such as:
Anthony Davis:
All-League 3rd Team x2
All-League 2nd Team
All-League 1st Team
All-Defensive 2nd Team
Donovan Mitchell:
All-League 3rd Team
Payton Pritchard:
All-League 2nd Team
Although the team never won a Championship in this amount of time, they set themselves up as a consistent force in the league with the best win % of any team during this time span by quite a large margin. This team is a testament to getting right back up if you've been knocked down. Just because the greatest basketball player to ever do it walks away from your team, don't let that hinder your spirits. Live life by the motto of Russ from the D2 Mighty Ducks:
Not only were the Pacers able to continue a winning tradition in these years post the Jokic walk through trading DeAaron Fox for AD+, they were also able to hold on to the other two Pick Swaps that were handed to the Pacers from the Nets in the Trade.
Nets '33 Swap turned out to be the #3 pick in the 2033 Draft which was Antoine Walker. Walker, only on his second season, is already looking like a future all-star with the following Attributes:
Inside Scoring: B
Outside Scoring: B
Handling: C
Defense: B+
Rebounding: C+
Potential: A
With a WHOLE LOT of Scouted Potential left in him.
Now, we have the upcoming Nets '35 swap that is already looking promising with a draft class that contains studs such as Bill Walton and Robert Parish. In Preseason of 2035, The Nets were projected the 2nd worst record which would put The Pacers in a great spot to land one of those two generational talents to add to Antoine Walker, and now the new regime which includes Kur Teng, Somto Cyril, and Keegan Murray.
The future is bright and we could be witnessing a team who will make playoffs every season for the rest of their lives.
To set the stage a little bit, the year was 2028. The Indiana Pacers were 1 year removed from our 1st ever NBA Championship and sporting the 2nd best Regular Season Win % behind the Washington Wizards since the Creation Draft 4 years prior.
Coming off a 52 - 30 season which garnered us the 3 seed, our season would come to an abrupt end in the 2nd rd of playoffs when we matched up against the #2 Seed Boston Celtics.
This did not bode well with our Super Star player Nikola Jokic, who's 62M contact was ending after the season. As he did not offer to resign, the Pacers were forced to bid on him against the rest of the league in Free Agency.
Alas, the inevitable happened, as Jokic decided to take his talents to The Washington Wizards on a max deal (even though the Pacers had offered more).
The Pacers were in shambles as they expected to use all of their open Cap Space on retaining Jokic, and after that did not happen, they had not planned well enough for a contingency plan. They were forced to overpay Obi Toppin just to use of their cap somehow in a large 1 year contract.
Moving forward, the thought amongst ownership was that we would be selling everything off and starting a Tank to rekindle some assets.. And then all of a sudden, a deal was struck that just so happened to change the entire structure of our team:
Nets Send:
Josh Giddey
Dick Gradey
Thomas Bryant
Isaiah Hartenstein
Amani Hansberry
Nets '35 swap
Nets ‘33 swap worse of Pacers or Kings
Nets '32
Nets '34
10m
Pacers Send:
De'Aaron Fox
Post this trade we were left with Future Hall of Famer Donovan Mitchell, an overpaid Obi Toppin, and a handful of mediocre role players. This team was destined to sell off the rest of their pieces and continue the idea of a Tank Job.
However, one of our underrated Free Agent signings brought ownership a glimmer of hope, Payton Pritchard.
Payton Michael Pritchard (born January 28, 1998) played college basketball for the Oregon Ducks. As a sophomore, Pritchard was named second-team all-conference in the Pac-12. As a senior, he was a finalist for the Naismith Trophy. Pritchard was drafted 26th overall in the 2020 NBA draft by the Celtics and was soon after a journey man bouncing also to the OKC Thunder and Utah Jazz as a backup PG who never really got a real chance at being a valued starter in any organization. The Pacers signed Pritchard to a 3 yrs/11M contract in 2027 at a ripe age of 30 (8yrs after joining the league).
Immediately, the Pacers noticed that they had landed a stud PG who had been slept on his entire career. "[Pritchard] came in wanting to out-play his contract from day 1." Said GM BeatsHaveADream "He was scrappy and efficient. Man had handles as tight as a suburban mom's schedule and defense as intense as a game on Monopoly. We knew he was going to be a key piece to our team moving forward."
With this revelation, the team started to get less interested in tanking and looked more at trying to compete the rest of the core 3 contracts out. But they were still missing one crucial piece. A piece that they had actually just lost which was the best of its type in the league. They needed someone to replace Jokic.
The Pacers were already in quite the predicament as they did not own any of their own picks as they had attempted to go all in the season prior and gave up a ton for supporting pieces around Jokic, so to buy back a Big Man, they did not have much to work with.
However, a 35 year old Anthony Davis was being shopped to the league and not many takers were looking his way due to his age and potential to retire any given season.
The Pacers decided to go after this man, and used 2 draft picks from the DeAaron Fox trade to get him. Little did anyone predict, AD ended up staying around for another 4 season to retire at an old age of 39. These 4 years where the Pacers ran heavy with a core of Payton Pritchard, Donovan Mitchell, and Anthony Davis Netted them:
222-106 Regular Season Record (.677)
30-22 Playoff Record (.577)
an Eastern Conference Finals
a Finals appearance
And the big 3 landed a handful of awards such as:
Anthony Davis:
All-League 3rd Team x2
All-League 2nd Team
All-League 1st Team
All-Defensive 2nd Team
Donovan Mitchell:
All-League 3rd Team
Payton Pritchard:
All-League 2nd Team
Although the team never won a Championship in this amount of time, they set themselves up as a consistent force in the league with the best win % of any team during this time span by quite a large margin. This team is a testament to getting right back up if you've been knocked down. Just because the greatest basketball player to ever do it walks away from your team, don't let that hinder your spirits. Live life by the motto of Russ from the D2 Mighty Ducks:
Not only were the Pacers able to continue a winning tradition in these years post the Jokic walk through trading DeAaron Fox for AD+, they were also able to hold on to the other two Pick Swaps that were handed to the Pacers from the Nets in the Trade.
Nets '33 Swap turned out to be the #3 pick in the 2033 Draft which was Antoine Walker. Walker, only on his second season, is already looking like a future all-star with the following Attributes:
Inside Scoring: B
Outside Scoring: B
Handling: C
Defense: B+
Rebounding: C+
Potential: A
With a WHOLE LOT of Scouted Potential left in him.
Now, we have the upcoming Nets '35 swap that is already looking promising with a draft class that contains studs such as Bill Walton and Robert Parish. In Preseason of 2035, The Nets were projected the 2nd worst record which would put The Pacers in a great spot to land one of those two generational talents to add to Antoine Walker, and now the new regime which includes Kur Teng, Somto Cyril, and Keegan Murray.
The future is bright and we could be witnessing a team who will make playoffs every season for the rest of their lives.
