The Pacers looked “lifeless” during a 22-point home loss to Golden State on Thursday, according to Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star. While it’s unlikely that Buddy Hield would have made up those 22 points and changed the outcome of Thursday’s game, the team seemed to be missing his “infectious spirit” hours after he was traded to Philadelphia, Dopirak observes.
“People just think about on the court,” Pacers center Myles Turner said in discussing Hield. “People don’t think about chemistry and energy and what he brings to our locker room, to our team. … His energy’s infectious. It’s something we’re definitely going to be missing. We gotta find a way to make it up somehow, someway. He’ll definitely be missed.”
The decision to trade the veteran sharpshooter to a conference rival was a bit of a curious one for a team that held the No. 6 seed in the East entering the deadline and was right on the heels of the No. 5 Sixers, Hield’s new team. However, Gregg Doyel of The Indianapolis Star has heard that Hield, who was unable to come to terms on an extension with Indiana earlier in 2023/24, asked to be dealt.
Explaining the move in the wake of the trade deadline, Pacers general manager Chad Buchanan referred to it as a “tough” decision to move Hield, but strongly hinted that the team wasn’t confident about its ability to re-sign him beyond this season. He said he hopes the Pacers players understand that the move – which netted multiple second-round picks – can pay dividends in the long run.
“Our team has done a great job of putting us in position to be a contender for a playoff spot,” Buchanan said. “Today was one of those decisions that maybe feels like it wasn’t helping the team now, but we’re trying to look long term and I can’t emphasize that enough with this group.
“… Any time you acquire draft capital, that puts you in position to make moves down the road to improve your team. I think you saw a lot of moves (Thursday) that involved a lot of second-round picks. There were players obviously involved, but draft capital is a really important thing to building a team and we acquired a lot of that today that we think could be beneficial down the road to help build the team. We acquired a pick last year at the draft that helped us obtain Pascal (Siakam). Draft capital is very valuable currency in the transaction business in our league.”
Here’s more on the Pacers:
- The Pacers also acquired Doug McDermott in their three-team deal with Philadelphia and San Antonio. They began pursuing McDermott, another three-point specialist, after realizing they wouldn’t be keeping Hield, according to Buchanan. “We knew when there was a possibility we were losing the caliber of shooter we were losing in Buddy, your first instinct is, ‘Can you replace it?'” the GM said, per Dopirak. “There were candidates we looked at for that. Some were available, some were not. Doug is a guy who Rick (Carlisle) has coached before, we’ve obviously had him here as a Pacer before, but he’s never played with our group. He’s super-excited to come play with this group, the way we play, the way the ball moves, the pace we play at.”
- The Pacers made their biggest in-season trade in January when they acquired Siakam from Toronto. As Dopirak relays, Buchanan also discussed that move this week, confirming that they view the forward as someone who will be with the team long-term: “That’s still the goal. He’s been a great fit so far. I think he’s happy so far.”
- In a separate story for The Indianapolis Star, Dopirak takes a look at the impact Indiana’s deadline moves will have on the team going forward. As Dopirak points out, although the Pacers received three second-round picks for Hield, they used one to bring in McDermott and sold another second-rounder to Golden State for cash. That means, with Cory Joseph and Furkan Korkmaz already waived and McDermott unlikely to be re-signed, the only deadline asset the Pacers will be left with beyond this season is a single second-rounder.
Which of these talented young duos would you rather have on your team if you could have them for their entire career, Ben Mathurin/Jarace Walker, Tari Eason/Cam Whitmore, Scottie Barnes/Gradey Dxck, Franz Wagner/Anthony Black, Josh Giddey/Cason Wallace, Jaden Ivey/Ausar Thompson, Tre Mann/Brandon Miller or Walker Kessler/Keyonte George? Rank a top3 if possible…
Kessler/george
Ivey/thompson
Mathurin/walker
Wagner/vlack
Giddey/wallace
Eason/whitmore
Miller/mann
Barnes/gradey
I gotta disagree with Kessler/Keyonte 1st
There is a chance that the Eason/Whitmore/Thompson is the best trio. Eason was a beast before injury, Whitmore has been strong since getting in rotation and Thompson has shown athleticism with FVV out. Add Jabari’s second year improvement in there and….
Orl
Det
Cha
Razor thin margins. Really impressed with B Miller and the strides he’s made so quickly. Think Id take him over S Barnes who I also like if they were both in next years draft
*Ivey/ Ausar have huge ceilings; tho it might be a little touch and go for awhile. Ausar might be one of the most exciting players in the league if it all clicks
completely agree about BMiller & Ausar
Where would you rank the new Fargo outta all 5 seasons Sank?
I think its the second best behind the original, the humor this year was just brilliant AF from so many angles
Love the list/rankings you put out on here, leads to great basketball chatter (as I ask for Tv show advice ha)
only season I saw was the one with Chris Rock. It was better than I expected tbh.
I agree with ORL (1st) and would put CHA (2nd), both based on the leading men. If I could take N.Smith as the sidekick, I’d put CHA first. TOR (3rd).
I like Nick Smith Jr but I think Tre Mann is better than him. It’ll be interesting to see who outplays who there
I told you all Indiana messed up trading everything, rushing like they are s championship team. Acting like Atlanta did a couple years ago
They took advantage of an opportunity with Siakam and are now rebuilding some assets. They’re doing a pretty good job straddling now and the future for a team that is a year ahead of schedule.