Lakers fans offered loud cheers Monday night for Myles Turner and Buddy Hield, two Pacers veterans who have been rumored as L.A. trade targets for several months, writes Kyle Goon of The Orange County Register. The Lakers rejected the potential swap because of Indiana’s insistence on getting unprotected first-round picks in 2027 and 2029, but the rumors haven’t died down.
Both players made an impression on Monday as the Pacers pulled out a win on a last-second shot. Turner, whose upcoming free agency both makes him a trade candidate and complicates his value, had 15 points, 13 rebounds and three blocked shots. Hield, who has one year left on his contract at $18.6MM, also had 15 points, although he was just 1-of-6 from three-point range.
“It’s been great to be with those guys,” coach Rick Carlisle told reporters on Monday. “I can see where people would have interest in them. I have a lot of interest in not trading them, you know?”
If the Lakers revisit the deal with Indiana, it may not happen for a while, Goon adds. L.A. has several players who can’t be moved until December 15, and a Monday report from ESPN indicated that the type of trade the Lakers are hoping to make may not be available until January.
Here’s more on the Pacers:
- Carlisle believes the franchise got a draft steal in Andrew Nembhard, who hit the game-winning shot on Monday. Nembhard, who was taken with the first pick in the second round, has earned a rotation role and is averaging 7.1 PPG in 20.7 minutes per night. “He’ll go down as a top-12 or (top-)15 pick in this draft when it’s all said and done,” Carlisle said (Twitter video link from Alex Golden). “It’s where he should have been taken.”
- In a discussion for The Athletic, Anthony Slater and Sam Amick revisit the Tyrese Haliburton/Domantas Sabonis deal from last season’s trade deadline. While Slater and Amick acknowledge that there’s some nuance involved when reevaluating the trade, they point to the Kings‘ and Pacers’ success so far this season and suggest it could end up as a win-win. Haliburton has been playing some of the best basketball of his career as of late, having become the first player since the NBA began tracking turnovers in 1977 to record at least 40 assists without a turnover over a three-game span (Twitter link).
- Within that same Athletic story, Amick writes that a number of people around the NBA believe the Pacers’ desire to continue tearing down their roster “just isn’t as strong as advertised.” Team owner Herb Simon has long been averse to tanking, so if Indiana stays competitive, the odds of the team trading away key veteran contributors before the deadline seem likely to decline.
Luke Adams contributed to this post.
I could see them hanging in to Turner and trying to renegotiate his contract, but they need to move Hield if possible. When Duarte comes back there will not be enough playing time at the 2/3. Mathurin, Nemhardt, Nesmith & Duarte should all be priorities for playing time, being younger with much more upside on defense than Heild.
They don’t need to move anybody.
Watching how well Buddy plays with Halliburton, I think they should consider trading Duarte instead. Opens up a world of trade partners.
The Pacers pulled off one of the great trades in recent years.
Tyrese Haliburton is a SuperStar in this league! What was Sacramento thinking?????
This kid is the real deal!
They were probably thinking “we have 2 good PGs and a third that could be good, we should see if we can trade one of them for a quality big man and while we’re at it let’s make Bagley someone else’s problem.
Seems to have worked out well for all parties as both Fox and Haliburton are having great seasons and both teams are playing well.
Awesome effort last night from Indy
Just a heartbreaker for Lakers which they fully created from laziness to guard the 3 the last 3 mins
Lakers have to show upper management they are worth investing in as is – the players control the fate here , not the suits right now
I’ve said since the beginning the worst outcome for 2022 isn’t being a bad team, it’s not accepting that if it shows itself naturally ( is currently ) This isn’t fun for the 2k”ers but imperative for the franchise
This Indy deal has less legs than it did 2 months ago IMo which wasn’t much