Pacers, Mavs, Clippers Discuss Trade For Hibbert

The Pacers have contacted the Mavericks about a possible sign-and-trade deal involving center Roy Hibbert, Brad Turner of The Los Angeles Times reports (Twitter link). The proposed deal would also include the Clippers, Turner notes. In the proposed deal, Indiana would send Hibbert to Dallas in exchange for Monta Ellis, who would then ship Hibbert to the Clippers in exchange for DeAndre Jordan, Turner relays (on Twitter). A source within the Mavericks’ organization doubts that the team would agree to such a transaction, since Dallas has no desire to help the Clippers improve their roster, as Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com relays (via Twitter). Indiana is also exploring other trade options involving the center, MacMahon adds.

Hibbert, who is scheduled to earn $15.514MM next season after exercising his player option, is no longer in the Pacers’ long-term plans, as the team is looking to implement a faster style of play. Indiana had reportedly been aggressive in their attempts to trade Hibbert prior to the 2015 NBA draft. Pacers president of basketball operations Larry Bird and coach Frank Vogel signaled this spring that they wanted to move on from the 28-year-old.

The big man’s contract has a 15% trade kicker included, and even though the starting salary in his deal was for the max, the kicker still has value, as he’s since accrued seven years of service and is eligible for a max worth roughly 30% of the salary cap instead of just 25%, noted Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders. The kicker would add more than $2.327MM to his base salary, which the Pacers would be required to pay, though it would count toward his cap hit for whichever team were to take him on.

This potential three-way deal would benefit the Pacers the most financially, as the Mavs have already agreed to a deal with Jordan, and don’t need to free up cap space to accommodate his addition. The Pacers can likewise fit in Ellis’ new deal under their cap figure, but would certainly love to have Hibbert’s player-friendly deal off of its books for next season. As for the Clippers, in the wake of losing Jordan and the team not having sufficient cap space to sign an impact player, agreeing to the trade would allow the franchise to add a starting-caliber big man without requiring additional cap clearing moves. That last point is why the Mavs would be hesitant to agree to such a trade, and Indiana or Los Angeles would likely need to add further compensation for Dallas to consider such a trade, though that is merely my speculation.

Hibbert made 76 appearances for Indiana last season, all as a starter, and averaged 10.6 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 1.6 blocks in 25.3 minutes per game. His shooting numbers were .446/.000/.824.