So, this article by Haynes appears to be sourced by Indiana's front office.
He's talking about just how hard the Pacers are trying to find help for Paul George. How the Pacers are willing to go so far as to give up their 2017 1st rounder and just how precious it is, a pick that is likely to not be the in lottery. A good, decent pick, for sure...but he really plays it up. Talks about how George wants to bring a title to Indiana. It appears to me to be the front office trying to let George know just how hard they're working. But, let's play along, because Indiana has players that could be useful to this squad in a multi-team deal.
Indiana has some cape space currently, so they can trade a smaller contract, like Ellis, and get a a decent sized bigger contract back.
They either need a 2/3 guard/forward guy, and George can play the other spot, or a true 4.
So they can go about this two ways. One, they can try and trade for a guy who currently has a bad contract, hoping they can turn it around in Indiana. Primarily looking at Kent Bazemore and Chandler Parsons. Evan Turner if they're desperate. They have the flexibility and the contracts to allow those teams to ultimately save a ton of money over the long haul on guys who are way, way under performing their deals. In return, they hope that those guys can turn back into what they once were w/o giving up anything of great, great value (outside of flexibility). This is probably not gonna be the preferred way, as Indiana has made it known they don't want to be a tax team.
The other route is you make your pick available and some of your decent contracts available. Currently, CJ Miles and Rodney Stuckey are productive players underpaid compared to the salary cap. A team that's looking to rebuild and is willing to trade a good player to get a decent draft pick could get worse fillers than those two.
So, I'm looking at Millsap as possible target that's actually worth the pick. Potentially Nic Batum. Then you start getting into guys who, while they have value, probably aren't worth the 1st. Wilson Chandler, John Henson (try and play he and Turner together), Tobias Harris are some other guys who you could possibly make a case are worth that pick, guys who can probably be had for a decent contract and a mid-2017 1st (maybe not Harris, I'm not sure what Detroit is doing), but honestly, probably don't move the needle for Indiana that much.
Millsap, I'd say, is the target they should be aiming for. Or........
They can truly swing for the fences and make Myles Turner available. If they're serious about getting Paul George real, star player help right this very moment, because he could leave in a year and a half, then making Turner available is the surest fire way to do it. Now, would it be smart? Probably not.....but teams trying to retain their franchise players can sometimes do not smart things.
So, I'm looking straight at Portland and CJ McCollum. They're under performing dramatically. Their pay roll is massive, and that's BEFORE McCollum's giant extension kicks in next year.
They're scheduled to have 136 million in active contract salary next year. Even if you remove Ezeli's 7 million dollars (non-guaranteed) you've still got an enormous number for a team that, right now, isn't even going to make the playoffs. To put that into perspective, even minus Ezeli's contract next year, they are still scheduled, if nothing else changes, to have a higher payroll than THE CAVS next season. I get Paul Allen has a boatload of money....but even if that was Warren Buffett who owned that team, he wouldn't continue paying that type of cash for that type of product.
The Lillard/McCollum pairing, while scoring a ton, isn't leading to wins. If Indiana came to them right now and offered them a deal centered around their 2017 1st and Myles Turner? I think Portland would be hard pressed to pass that up.
Which brings me to my point, Indiana has a lot of decent contracts that they can involve in a trade for a high priced guy. The team they are trading with might not be so willing to take on all of those contracts. If, for instance, Lavoy Allen, or CJ Miles, or Aaron Brooks have to be included in a deal to make salaries work, that's a potential Trade Exception target, or possibly more, depending on the parts.
If Indiana is active in the trade market, they've got the type of deals and the type of players we could use, if we are willing to take on more salary (which I'm not so confident in these days).
Anyway, here is the Haynes article.
NEW ORLEANS -- In an attempt to secure help for All-Star forward
Paul George, the
Indiana Pacers have made their 2017 first-round pick available in a trade, league sources said.
In what is considered to be a deep draft, the Pacers are hoping that such an asset would translate to the addition of either an established wing or established frontline player, according to sources.
There is hesitancy within the organization to relinquish the precious pick, but the Pacers (29-28) have lost six in a row (only the nine-win
Nets currently have a longer losing streak, at 14 games) and are only two games from dropping into the eighth and final playoff spot in the East.
George can opt out of his contract at the end of the 2017-18 season. The Pacers have a small window to provide him with a championship-type supporting cast.
And whether he signs an extension this summer probably will be predicated on the moves the franchise can execute up to that point.
George is fixated on bringing a title to Indiana. On numerous occasions, including on Friday, he has voiced his desire to be a revered Pacers figure.
"I wanted to be the first and want to be the first to be able to bring a championship to Indiana," George told ESPN Radio on Friday morning. "So that's still on my mind ... and something I definitely want to achieve in Indiana."
The Pacers were supposed to take the next step up and challenge the
Cleveland Cavaliers after acquiring point guard
Jeff Teague and power forward
Thaddeus Young via separate trades last offseason, but that hasn't been the case.
Teague started the season slowly but has found a balance. Young has sat out the past eight games with a wrist injury, although he's expected to return to the lineup after the All-Star break.
The NBA trade deadline is Thursday